How It All Started
In 2008, a group of pilgrims returning from one stage of the Way of St. James agreed the journey had given them so much that they now wanted to give something back. This idea led to the founding of Ultreia, named for a popular pilgrim’s greeting and a song propelling one “onward and upward.”
Initially, our activities revolved mainly around providing information resources for pilgrims travelling to France and Spain. We also started issuing a pilgrim’s credential. With a growing number of resources on foreign routes, we started shifting our focus to Czech routes. We are a transit country with pilgrimage routes connecting to Poland, Germany, and Austria.
We maintain close ties with cities, municipalities, villages, and individual pilgrims, which has helped us in creating infrastructure making travel for the pilgrims as smooth as possible. Thanks to local volunteers, patrons of individual stages, we can provide up-to-date information on accommodation and food options. We also cooperate with local tourist centers to expand the number of places with access to travel guides and issuing credential stamps.
But above all, we simply love travelling on foot through the countryside. We organize pilgrim walks allowing us to get to know our beautiful country better. We love walking today as we did in Ultreia’s early days.
If you would like to support us, please check out the Donate section.
The association
This association was founded in order to support our activities. Ultreia z.s. is an open association of friends of St. James’ Way and travel on foot in general. Membership is open to anyone interested in pilgrims and pilgrimages.
Photos from the annual meeting of pilgrims 2019