Simon Reeve travels from northern France to northern Spain, and then crosses Western Europe to arrive in Rome. In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage shaped much of Europe, as inns and churches sprung up along routes and villages near popular shrines developed into towns. To see how this is still happening, Simon travels The Camino, a challenging 500-mile trek starting in a French town, climbing over the Pyrenees and winding through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. At the end of the route, he joins the crowds at the pilgrims' mass as one of the biggest incense burners in the world swings over his head. In Switzerland, Simon undertakes one of the oldest and most perilous pilgrim routes in Europe, The Great St. Bernard Pass. He treks to a monastery high in the Alps where he meets up with some young Americans. To see how modern pilgrimage melds into tourism, Simon goes to the shrine devoted to the monk Padre Pio who died in 1968 in San Giovanni Rotondo in the east of Italy. Finally, Simon arrives in Rome and St. Peter's Square where pilgrims gather by the thousands to be blessed by the Pope. He reflects on his realization that for those who follow a pilgrim's path, it is more about what they discover on the way than reaching the journey's end.
