Spain – Astorga (En)
We went to Astorga because when I was little, we used to stop there to buy some puff pastries with honey. I wanted Ben to try them, also because the city is beautiful with Celtic and Roman influences in its architecture, and to try the Maragato stew, which we had been told we couldn’t leave the area without trying.
Where to stay
We stayed in the city’s free motorhome site (42.451522, -6.06567 lat, long) next to the bullring and a park. The site has an area for filling and emptying grey and black water, drinking water, and trash containers. The only thing it doesn’t have is electricity. It’s a 15-minute walk from the centre, and you can walk around the city or the park. We slept well, and it’s safe. The only downside is that the water used to flush the chemical toilet didn’t work, and the medical helicopters take off next door, which are quite noisy. I recommend visiting this beautiful city.
What to see
We walked downtown and arrived at the Cathedral of St. Mary, declared a national monument in 1931. We went into the shop where you can buy tickets to visit the cathedral, but we didn’t go inside. The Gothic building was begun in 1471 and is built on the site of an 11th-century Romanesque cathedral.
Next to the cathedral is the Church of Saint Marta, which was open, and we were able to see the inside. The church dates from the late Baroque period and was completed in 1711, the same year that Santa Marta was declared the city’s patron saint.
Going down the street, you reach the Episcopal Palace designed by Antonio Gaudí. It was built between 1889 and 1913. Designed in the Catalan modernist style, it is one of only three Gaudí buildings outside of Catalonia. It sits on the side of a square overlooking the cathedral. You have to pay to visit. Since we didn’t want to pay, we went to the door and took the best photos we could.
We wandered through the streets until we reached the town hall square, with a fountain in the centre and surrounded by bars and restaurants. We thought the town hall was beautiful.
We continued wandering and came to a church, which we were able to visit inside. Going down the street, you’d come to an area where an ancient Roman house had been discovered, where you could see the excavations. We strolled along the top of the Roman walls, taking photos of the views, and saw a museum with ancient Roman figures. We returned through the park that bears the city’s name in the centre.
What to eat
We were told we had to eat the maragato stew, which is like the Madrid stew but the other way around. In cocido madrileño, you start with soup, followed by meat, chickpeas, and cabbage. In the maragato stew, you start with meat, followed by chickpeas and cabbage, and end with soup. They told us it was done this way because during the war, they never had time to eat meat, so they changed the order of the meal. We booked at La Paloma restaurant; it cost 50 euros for all dishes, including bread, a bottle of red wine and another of white wine, dessert, and coffee. I really recommend trying it, although we still like the Madrid stew better. At Maragato Stew, they put too much paprika, too many chick peas and not enough cabbage, and I only liked the chicken, ham, and chorizo, so Ben ate almost all the rest, which was pig ears, snout, and feet. We ended up stuffed and couldn’t eat anything else for the rest of the day.
The next day, we went to Zamora, known as the “Museum of Romanesque Art,” the city with more Romanesque churches in all of Europe, which you can see in the next blog!
