GPBS - The Way of Wonder (2027 ) Sacred Paths Through Italy and Spain Camino

Welcome to The Way of Wonder, a pilgrimage shaped not simply as a journey across countries, but as a path of encounter, reflection, and renewal. This is not a tour to be observed from a distance – it is a pilgrimage to be lived step by step. It invites you to slow down, to notice deeply, and to allow each place to speak in its own way, through beauty, history, silence, and story.                                                            

We begin in the heart of the Church in Rome and Vatican City, where centuries of faith, art, and tradition converge in a living experience of the sacred. Here, the great highlights of Rome and the Vatican unfold before us, but the true centre is the encounter – culminating in a remarkable audience with Pope Leo XIV. It is a moment that invites reflection on the global Church and one’s place within a much larger story. From this beginning, the pilgrimage gently turns toward the quiet hill town of Assisi, where simplicity itself becomes a teacher.

In Assisi, we walk in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Clare of Assisi – figures whose lives continue to echo through the stones, valleys, and basilicas of the town. Here, the pilgrimage invites stillness and attentiveness: to creation, to community, and to the deeper questions of life. We also pause  at the resting place of Saint Carlo Acutis, a young witness of faith whose life speaks powerfully into the present moment.

From there, the journey flows into the vibrant beauty of Barcelona, where artistry and imagination reach toward the divine in striking form.  At the centre of our time here stands the extraordinary vision of Antoni Gaudí, most fully expressed in the soaring space of the Sagrada Família.  We also climb (on bus!) to the mountain sanctuary of Montserrat, a place of prayer, silence, and sweeping horizons that gently reorients the heart.

Then comes one of the most meaningful movements of the entire pilgrimage: walking the final 110 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago. This is a stretch of road where simplicity becomes clarity, and where each step carries its own quiet significance.  Shared meals, open paths, and unhurried time together create space for reflection and renewal in ways that cannot be rushed or replicated.

The pilgrimage concludes in the historic and cultural richness of Madrid and Toledo, where layers of history, faith, and artistry come together in a final invitation to gratitude. These closing days are not an ending so much as a gathering up of everything seen, heard, and experienced along the way.

The Way of Wonder is an invitation to more than travel. It is an invitation to journey with intention, to see familiar places with new eyes, and to allow wonder itself to become a companion along the road.

I look forward to journeying The Way of Wonder with you.

Paul Skippen
Pilgrimage Leader