The Palatinate route of St. James

Website Palatinate route of St. James

From Speyer the Palatinate route of St. James runs through the Kaiserslautern vacation region to the monastery at Hornbach where it meets its Saarland continuation to Metz.

In the Middle Ages it was mainly the search for absolution and the desire to visit sites of famous holy relics that prompted many people to go on the arduous pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Today the Palatinate route of St. James consists of well developed trails taking you through a varied landcape rich in history. The trail marked with a white shell on a blue background runs past picturesque villages and over gentle hills through the Palatinate Forest biosphere reserve. Information boards contain explanations of sights along the way and interesting facts about the pilgrimage route.

In Landstuhl, the remnants of Nanstein Castle await the hiker with a rich history and stories about Franz von Sickingen, one of the last knights; you can delve into the world of fortified castles and their more, or sometimes less, honorable inhabitants.

The trail then unexpectedly passes 150 year old sequoia trees and continues to a gorge covered with primeval-looking trees.

Further on in the Elendsklamm gorge the hiker is greeted by cascading steps and gushing waterfalls, bizarre erosions in the hard quartz sandstone, boulder fields and overhanging red sandstone formations created by the force of flowing water.

In Vogelbach the hiker reaches an important station on the route of St. James, the interconfessional church that has served as a resting place and way station for pilgrims since the Middle Ages.

From here the trail leads on to the monastery in Hornbach.