Maxim Behar presents a book about Camino: "We walked these kilometers with great pleasure. And it was fast and easy"

Host: You are listening to the program "About the City" on BTV Radio. We've always associated Camino with hardship. But "The Camino way. Quick, easy and for fun" is the title of the book by Maxim Behar, who is now our interlocutor. The book's premiere is coming up on September 18, and I'll be chatting with the author on the eve of the event. Hello and welcome.

Maxim: Good afternoon.

Host: Starting from the title itself, we are really used to seeing the Camino as a path of suffering, the deprivations associated with the physical body, and at the same time the enrichment of the spirit. In the title, you say fast, easy, and for pleasure. Why is this your view?

Maxim: That was exactly the purpose of the title. Before we set off with my wife Veneta to walk a small part of the Camino. All our friends told us that it was tough, and we would come back very tired. We were inundated with a lot of negative messages and a lot of question marks. And in fact, it turned out that we covered those miles with great pleasure, and it was fast and easy. Because you don't have to walk the entire Camino, which starts in France and ends at the Camino de Santiago. Which is nearly 900 kilometers. Mostly since we don't have the time and very few people can afford to take two months and go all the way. However, to take 10 days and walk 150 kilometers is something quite achievable and everyone can afford it. With good time management and preparation, it can be done quickly, easily, and pleasantly. We experienced great pleasure. Of course, in the evening when we got back to the stratospheres, we were tired, however, we rested for half an hour. We put our feet up on the wall while we checked our emails and returned missed calls. And then in the evening we sat down for a bottle of wine, and it was really a huge treat. And the next morning, we'd get up and our feet would go off on their own.

Host: How do you describe that in the book? Just that sense of ease in the ordeal.

Maxim: We've divided the book into three parts. It's not that big, about 200 pages. Really, our goal was that anyone who went to see this wonderful Camino experience could take it in their backpack. To read it on the way, to read it on the plane. In the first part, we explain the whole concept of Camino, because it's not just walking the streets or the forests. It's the people you meet, it's the atmosphere that's around you that's magical. Most people, because many times we met people who told us that they were worried about going alone, but it turned out that you can never be alone on the Camino. And that's just the way my wife and I were, however, we kept meeting different interesting people and kept going with them. Some lagged others went by faster. Some were with children others were in wheelchairs, bicycles, and horses. This whole group of people and atmosphere was truly unique. In the book's second part, we describe our route from the town of Saria to Santiago de Compostela. The towns we stopped in, where we lived, what we did, how we prepared, what we brought with us. Which is super important. In the third part, we talk in detail about all the possible routes and ways to cross the Camino. From the French way, the Portuguese way from Porto, through several Spanish ways. There's the Camino which starts from Austria and from the UK. And they all end in front of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela where you get your respective certificates. I found the book very easy to read.

Host: How does the Camino change the way you travel through your experience?

Maxim: We found out what the Camino Road was maybe two or three months after we had come home. Because we started looking at our pictures and sorting them out to make a short film. Somewhere on the penultimate or last day while we were walking through a eucalyptus forest, I suggested to Veneta that we write a book about what we had gone through. Because a lot of people in Bulgaria would be interested in this road, which is the shortest, not the easiest in any case, to get an official certificate from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. She is not actively involved in writing. I started looking at my notes, the photos, and what I had posted on Facebook and Instagram, and it was only then that I realized that the Camino is not all walking. It's not just drinking their wonderful local wine, eating jamon and local cheeses. And it's truly an experience where you see people you'll never see at any other time. I at one point thought the Camino was probably the best social network I've ever been on. No one there asks you what you do. Sometimes they might ask you where you're from. Rather, we share our impressions of the road, we share our thoughts. It's a very enriching thing.

Host: Tell us about what's going to happen at the book launch.

Maxim: I'll go back a little bit to the last question. You know this is a place where not once have we mentioned the word war, not once have we mentioned inflation, recession, problems, the economy, the market, and all the things that worry or excite us in our daily lives. Only good things are said there. On Monday 18 September at a wonderful place One More Bar in Borisova Garden we will present the book with our very good friend Georgi Milkov journalist from "24 hours". He is a prominent traveler and first read the book. Then he called me and said he would name the book "Camino Textbook". A friend of ours, Stefan Ivanov, probably known to many people in Bulgaria, will also introduce it. Who, together with his son Maxim, crossed the Atlantic in a small rowing boat. They set several world records that are in Guinness. They are also the people who really motivated us to take on this adventure. And finally, our good friend the Spanish ambassador Alejandro Polanco, crossed the Camino. To whom we had mentioned at dinner that we wanted to do it and he was then sure we would write a book.

Host: "The Camino way. Quick, easy and for fun" co-authored with your wife Veneta Pisarska. Maxim Behar in our studio co-authors of the book, co-authors in life. Thank you very much.

Maxim: I look forward to having listeners of this wonderful radio show visit us. Even if they don't come to buy the book and take the Camino.

Host: In its path of development.