Pilgrimage. The journey to oneself.

When I started looking for partners in Tyrol for the project 'Jakobsweg in Tirol' after my pilgrimage on the Way of St. James to Santiago in 2001, I was - to put it politely - smiled at by the so-called 'tourists'. 20 years later pilgrimage, pilgrimage or long-distance walking has become a hit in Tyrol too. Foot travel', as it was called in the Middle Ages, has become a holiday activity with significant annual growth rates. Remarkable: the old-fashioned 'hiking' has quickly become 'hiking', the religiously dusty 'pilgrimage' has become cheerful pilgrimage through magnificent landscapes.

What actually makes rational, critical and tech-savvy people walk for days and weeks with a backpack on their hump towards a usually distant destination? To share their sleeping camp in hostels with other snorers, to brave wind and weather? They trade the security of modern life for the uncertainty of finding a hostel to stay in at all in the evening. It is this 'other, unorganised life' that we modern people want to experience on a pilgrimage. And then, when all social differences become blurred, race or religion becomes all the same, we humans reduce ourselves to what we are: social, sentient and happy beings who happily carry all their belongings on their backs. Who then, in the evening, feed each other the blisters on their feet.

The realization that we are in danger of drowning in a sea of abundance is something that many pilgrims take with them into their 'normal lives'. A 'by-product' of the 'journey to oneself', as I will call pilgrimage, is the realization of living in an intangible abundance. But travel itself also takes on new meaning. "Only where you have been on foot have you really been" already stated Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Almost all pilgrims will agree with him.

Once you have discovered slowness for yourself, you will also develop a completely new perspective on the little things. It becomes a real addiction to grasp the world in its details. Flowers, shrubs, insects or colours are mixed into a completely new palette of life and experience on a 'foot journey'. If you take the time to visit pilgrimage sites on social media, you can see abundantly clearly the new perspectives that people develop on a pilgrimage.

Those who have once made a longer pilgrimage will always miss the feeling of inner peace and serenity, but above all the lightness of being in everyday work. That is the reason why very many pilgrims compensate for the longing for the slow, simple life with day trips closer to home. And this is exactly where Susanne and Walter Elsner's book comes in. Pilgrimage in Tyrol is not only an invitation to visit the most beautiful areas of our country on pilgrimage. The book is also a fine guide to 'training' for subsequent, extended pilgrimages.

For me, this pilgrimage guide comes just at the right time. After a pandemic with its uncertainties and travel restrictions, the pilgrimage destinations and contemplative paths presented in the guide are made for finally exploring one's own country. If you also consider that Tyrol is rich in unique pilgrimage destinations, the pilgrimage guide becomes a real 'summer programme for nature-loving pilgrims'.

The division of the book into five Tyrolean regions facilitates the selection of destinations in the 'narrower' area. The description of the 50 routes includes direct information about the length of the hike, altitude, etc., as well as information about public transport and - very important - places to stop for refreshments.

The description of an extended pilgrimage across Innsbruck documents the once leading position of our city as a pilgrimage centre on the way to Santiago. The patron saint of the cathedral alone makes this clear: St. Jacob. Today, the city is still the starting point for numerous, highly edifying excursions into the surrounding area. Such as to the Höttinger Bild or the pilgrimage to the Holy Water in Heiligwasser. Both destinations where mental and spiritual contemplation enter into an ideal partnership. Even Wilhelm Busch hurried to the destination, because 'up from the beautiful place beckon inn and chapel'.

In the book the Innsbruck route is very well described: First to the Höttinger Bild, then through the city to Wilten In addition to the pure route description including a map, readers also receive interesting cultural-historical information about the buildings, churches and chapels described.

That there are many extremely attractive Christian pilgrimage destinations in Innsbruck's wider surroundings is impressively demonstrated by Maria Locherboden and Stams in the Oberland, St. Antonius in Rietz and St. Magdalena in the Gschnitztal.

The work 'Pilgrimage in Tyrol', published by Tyrolia-Verlag, is a handy guide that not only shows people seeking meaning the right way. It also gives an overview of the most beautiful places in our country.

Susanne Elsner; Walter Elsner, Pilgrimage in Tyrol; 50 pilgrimage destinations and paths of reflection in North and East Tyrol

978-3-7022-3891-9. 2021 Tyrolia, 288 pages
319 col. Ill., 50 col. Map sections, 1 overview map, 210 mm x 145 mm
Ready for immediate dispatch or collection at Tyrolia Innsbruck, Maria-Theresien-Straße 15
24.95 EUR