Camino Frances - 2014
Day 2 - Friday 19th September 2014
Villavante to Astorga
20.5 km - 4.5 hours
| I left Molino Galochas at 8-20 a.m. as the walk to Astorga was relatively short. It was 15 degrees C and by the time I had gone a hundred yards I had to stop to put on rain gear. First stop was Hospital de Órbigo to see the pilgrim's bridge....... something I missed last year as I took the bus to Hospital de Órbigo roundabout on the N-120. |
Puente de Órbigo, one of the longest and best preserved medieval bridges in Spain dating
from the 13th century and built over an earlier Roman bridge.
Albergue Parroquial in Hospital de Órbigo
Albergue San Miguel
Decision time at the outskirts of Hospital de Órbigo. Straight on is the original road route;
right is the country route via Villares de Órbigo.
Heading to Villares de Órbigo
Bar Piris, opposite the albergue, is a good stop off point for breakfast
Heading out of Villares de Órbigo, with John (Melbourne, Australia) striding ahead
The church at Santibanez de Valdeiglesias, with 11 km to go to Astorga
Grape picking time
Heading towards Cruceiro
The Pilgrim at Cruceiro (Photo by Edith of Nova Scotia!)
Approaching San Justo de la Vega
| I walked into Astorga with Edith, Debra and John, just as the heavens opened up. We got a right Royal soaking! John and I stopped in the centre of Astorga for some food and a small libation. I was going to meet John in the evening for dinner, but I was staying slightly out of the centre at Hotel Coruña and John was at Albergue Santa Maria and we did not meet up. I found a good Pizza restaurant just off the main square, which was great, apart form the mistake of having profita rolls for desert, which turned out to be enormous under a mountain of synthetic shaving cream! |
Entering Astorga. Roman ruins and mosaics under cover on the right
Albergue Santa Maria
The main square
The cathedral, left and the Gaudi Palace, right. Last year I spent a lot of time in the Gaudi Palace
but did not go into the cathedral. This year I just went into the cathedral.
The Gaudi palace.... always breathtaking!
Thunder clouds gather over San Bartolome Church
Astorga Cathedral
| The Catedral de Santa María de Astorga is a Roman Catholic church that was declared a national monument in 1931. The edifice was begun in 1471, within the same walls of its Romanesque predecessors from the 11th-13th centuries. The construction lasted until the 18th century, thus to its original Gothic style appearance were added elements from later styles, such as the Neo-Classicist cloister (18th century), the Baroque towers, capitals and the façade, and the Renaissance portico. The interior houses numerous artworks, such as the Flemish-Spanish retablo of St. Michael, and the large high altar by Gaspar Becerra (1558), considered a masterwork of the Spanish Renaissance sculpture. Other sculptures include the "Purísima" by Gregorio Fernández (1626), "St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome" by Mateo del Prado (17th century) and the "Christ of the Waters" (14th century). |
Hostal Coruña
My room for the night at Hostal Coruña
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