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Wise Pilgrim APPAstorga arrives with a change in everything -- architecture, food, energy, and the sudden presence of Frances pilgrims. After days of solitary meseta walking, the walled town on the hill feels like a proper destination.
Three buildings command attention. The Cathedral, begun in the 15th century and finished in the 18th, layers Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements with an abandon that somehow works. The retablo mayor is a masterpiece by Gaspar Becerra, and the museum holds a collection of medieval religious art that justifies the entrance fee.
The Palacio Episcopal was designed by Antoni Gaudi in 1889, commissioned when a fellow Catalan became bishop. The bishop never actually lived in it -- a dispute with the diocese halted construction, and Gaudi walked off the project. The building was eventually completed by others and now houses the Museo de los Caminos, a collection of art and artifacts related to the pilgrimage routes that converge here.
The Ayuntamiento on the Plaza Mayor is the third building worth your time. Two carved figures in Maragato dress -- a man and a woman -- strike the bell on the hour. They've been doing it since 1748.
This is Maragato country, and the signature dish is the cocido maragato -- a stew served in reverse order. Meat first, then chickpeas and vegetables, then soup last. It's the opposite of how the rest of Spain eats cocido, and the Maragatos wouldn't have it any other way. It's a heavy, communal meal -- grab a group of pilgrims and share a table at one of the restaurants in the old town. This is not a vegetarian-friendly option.
Astorga also has a serious chocolate tradition. The city was a major hub for chocolate production from the 17th century onward, importing cacao through the port of La Coruna and processing it here. The Museo del Chocolate documents the history and includes tastings. If you want a box of mantecadas -- the local butter pastry -- to fuel the next few days of walking, the bakeries along Calle de Santiago are your source.
The Xunta albergue on the Frances is well-established, and several private options exist. From here you join the Camino Frances heading west toward Ponferrada, El Bierzo, and eventually Santiago.
Santa Marta is celebrated during the last week of August. Market day is Tuesday. The Fiesta de Astures y Romanos, held in late July, reenacts the Roman-Asturian encounter and fills the streets with legionnaires and warriors for a weekend.
Astorga was Asturica Augusta -- the Roman capital of the conventus Asturicensis, established by Augustus in the 1st century BC as a military camp that grew into a city of 12,000. At the junction of several Roman roads, including the Via de la Plata from the south and the Via Traiana from the east, it was one of the most important crossroads in Roman Hispania. Gold from the mines of Las Medulas passed through here on its way to Rome.
The Roman walls, partially reconstructed and partially original, still define the old town's perimeter. Active archaeological digs continue to uncover the Roman city beneath the medieval one -- the Ruta Romana offers access to several excavation sites, and the Museo Romano displays finds from the ongoing work. Nearly every building in the old town sits on some Roman foundation.
The Maragatos are the other thread running through Astorga's identity. This ethnic group, concentrated in the villages west of Astorga, served for centuries as the muleteers of northwest Spain -- transporting goods between the coast and the interior along routes that predated the Roman roads. Their origins are debated: Berber, Visigothic, pre-Roman Celtic, and a dozen other theories have been proposed, none proven. What's certain is that they maintained a distinct culture, architecture, dress, and cuisine well into the modern era. The Maragato houses you've been seeing -- with their massive arched doorways built to admit loaded mule trains -- are the most visible legacy.
The camino here leaves the last of the plains behind and begins, slowly at first, to climb. The ascent is slow and gradual until Rabanal, where it begins a more steep ascent to the alto and an equally quick descent into Molinaseca. On the way up it passes through several small but equipped towns (no ATM’s but plenty to eat).
