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Wise Pilgrim APPYou've left La Rioja and entered Castilla y León, Spain's largest autonomous community. It's made up of nine provinces; the Camino Francés passes through three of them — Burgos, Palencia, and León. The other six (Ávila, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid, and Zamora) remain off-route but each has its own Camino connections.
The landscape shifts. The vineyards of La Rioja give way to the vast cereal fields of Castile — wheat, barley, and sunflowers stretching to flat horizons. This is the beginning of the meseta, though the true flatness doesn't hit until after Burgos. The villages here are smaller and more spaced out than in Navarra or La Rioja, and services can be thin.
Castilla y León's food is hearty and meat-heavy: morcilla (blood sausage, Burgos-style), lechazo (roast suckling lamb), and cocido castellano are the regional staples. The wines are Ribera del Duero to the south, but along the Camino you'll mostly drink Rioja or whatever the local bar pours.
