In medieval times a pilgrimage would have started at your front door but these days the majority opt to start at the Spanish frontier and where better than Roncesvalles, a beautiful hamlet famous for the defeat of Charlemagne and the death of Roland in the battle of Ronceveaux Pass in 778. From there it’s an easy start, down hill all the way to Pamplona west of which the Camino enters in Navarra’s famous wine country, look out for the bodegas of Irache and Castillo de Monjardin and don’t miss historic Puente la Reina. The Navarran part of the Camino ends in Viana where César Borgia, inspiration for Machiavelli’s Prince & son of the infamous papal dynasty came to escape Rome