Pilgrims have always felt the need to travel identified as pilgrims of Saint James. This condition gives them some privileges that other walkers do not have. The scallop shell, also called scallop, was their first identification. In the thirteenth century, the "probatory letters", precursors of the current Passport, began to be used.
At present, pilgrims travel with the Pilgrim’s Passport, which is a document similar to a pop-up passport of several pages, and in which the pilgrims collect the stamps of the hostels, hotels, restaurants, town halls, temples and many other establishments of the towns they pass through. It is necessary to exhibit in order to have the right to use the hostels, usually public, that are along the Way.
