Camino Day 25: Villavante to Astorga
“Every morning we are born again. What we do today matters most.”
Day 25: 22.3 kilometres - 26,314 steps
The weather is cloudy but NO RAIN! Sylive and I set out along The Way and the first point of interest is Puente de Orbigo. The longest and best preserved medieval bridge in Spain, dating back to the 12th Century. It has so many arches, is such a long bridge yet the river is quite narrow – what is that about? A famous jousting tournament took place here in 1434 and to this day, they still celebrate with an annual jousting festival. It is in two weeks time and they are setting up the jousting arena on a large flat plain under the first arches of the bridge. Such a pretty town, but it’s early in the day – too early to break for long.
We have the option to either continue directly on the road, or take a longer scenic diversion. We quickly decide on the later but I am amazed most pilgrims seem to be choosing the quick and ugly route. Our alternative route is gorgeous, sublime, incredibly tranquil, we come across few other pilgrims. Then at the top of a rise a happy little pilgrim oasis emerges. A decorated rest stop with a food cart operating by donation. We sit in hammocks and eat watermelon. Sylvie rubs her feet and we change socks – our boots still damp from yesterday.
We also come across a small farm with new calves by the roadside. The calves are hungry and try desperately to suck onto anything they can reach – our hands, our packs – it seem so obvious they are being bottle fed. We move on a little sticky and smelling of cow but happy and laughing.
Just outside of town as we enter Astorga we bump into a busker, singing and playing guitar. He asks where we are from and adjusts his lyrics accordingly: Peregrina Australiana. He has a cute routine going, and flips his guitar mid song. Love it! Very happy day.
And then we enter Astorga. I know nothing about this town but it is delightful. It is Saturday afternoon and the whole town is in the square, having lunch, or tapas and enjoying the sun. Sylvie is tired so I head out alone to the Cathedral and museum. It’s not especially notable except for some unusually good contemporary stained glass – quite stunning. I have booked a massage from 4pm so I hurry to my appointment – BLISS. There was only one appointment available and only for half an hour – but its my first camino massage. The masseuse has massaged pilgrims before – she focuses on my calves and feet - oh so good! It felt like she was trying to pry the muscles from my bones – when I leave, I feel like I am floating.
Back to the hotel, I grab Sylvie and we bump into Phillip & Rob. We head out to the tourist highlight of the town -the Gaudi designed Palacio Episcopal. WOW. This is one of my favourite pieces of architecture. It was designed by Gaudi as a residence for bishops but was never used for this purpose. It’s so ornate, like a fairytale castle, filled with rooms of columns with detailed arches and buttresses, amazing perspectives from various internal viewpoints, resplendent with artworks and elegant stained glass panels. Donna would have been in here for hours photographing.
Thinking of Donna inspires me to try the towns famous caked – Mantecadas, soft little butter cakes that are for sale everywhere and are delicious. I buy a 6 pack and we all share it. Then while the others are taking a quick look in the Cathedral I try a HOJALORE. Oh so good! Like a Spanish Baclava without the nuts - it’s a sticky golden pastry treat. They are so good I want to take some home for Ben but the adorable souvenir boxes are all Mantecadas, which are not so remarkable to me. My only option is to buy a HUGE box - how will this fit into my suitcase? Challenge accepted.
Sylvie and I head off to the chocolate museum. They have a fascinating video in English explaining how chocolate was originally made and how it is still traditionally made in Astorga. Some beautiful antique posters and packaging on display. And at the end a chocolate sampling session.
Back in the main square we bump into the boys and Nat having a drink. We join them for a G&T. Then decide to move on for dinner. We settle on a restaurant advertising MARAGATO CUCINA and order the Special Menu. This turns out to be an unexpected cultural experience. We are expecting as advertised – Soup/Chickpeas/Meat/Desert. We are served first the meat dish. An assortment of meats. Chorizo - the best I’ve had. Pork – including just pure fat, tongue, pigs ears and other mystery parts. Suspect looking croquettes (not brave enough to try those!) all served with lovely fresh tomatoes.
I ask our host who is engaging and delightful, what Maragato means. Is this a region we are in? Is Astorga part of Maragato? He says he is Maragato – his mother is Maragato – but his wife is not, and although there are Maragato villages all around, Astorgo is not Maragato. He speaks no English but I gather Maragato is an ethnicity, like Gypsy or Jewish that have spread around the word – to Latin America for example. Also they are famous for eating courses backwards – the meat dish first – the soup last. And so it is that we get chickpeas second (I fill up on these tasty morsels) and soup (beef with noodles) last. Then its custard for desert and liqueur to finish. All the while he is attending to us and fussing over us, testing my limited Spanish in order to tell us more about the food and culture of which he is clearly so proud.
Its Nats last night with us. He has a wedding to attend in the US and must hurry ahead tomorrow to finish camino. A great night – we stumble into bed at 11pm. It’s dark!! Normally we are in bed before well before dark on camino.
