Leon - Astorga - Ponferrada

Day 26. Due to a painful injury, we opted to condense several days of the Camino to get back on schedule. Public transportation in Spain is top notch, and for just a few Euros we covered several days of walking in just a couple of hours. Our first stop was Astorga where we toured the Gaudi palace and enjoyed their signature chocolate. The palace was gifted to a local bishop upon his retirement by the local families. However, he was a humble man and believed it was far to magnificent to make his home, and thus unoccupied for many years. It was converted to a government building after the Spanish civil war and remained so until after General Franco's death in 1979. It is now a museum housing many cultural and religious artifacts with some dating before the birth of Christ.
After leaving Astorga, we travelled through long, winding mountain passes to reach Ponferrada. We toured the Templar Castle constructed in 1226 to guard the Camino, and protect the pilgrims on the way to Santiago from Moorish incursions along with bandits. At the heart of the city is the beautiful Basilica Virgin de la Encina.Read more