Quote:
Originally Posted by The Colonel
Do we have any records kicking about of places which particularly served as travel hubs for pilgrims?
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Yes, at least in later periods. For example, there was a hospice for visiting pilgrims in Jerusalem: probably several, but the one I'm thinking of was established by merchants from Amalfi in 1054. The Knights Hospitallers ran "hospitals" along the major pilgrim routes to shelter pilgrims. There were facilities at the pilgrim embarkation ports after the pilgrimage routes took to the sea.
I think I remember an account of some sort of accommodation for pilgrims being built in the Fourth Century by some pious Empress, but Im not sure it was still operating after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the Seventh Century.