Astorga

Astorga is a municipality in the province of León, situated on a plateau at the confluence of the Camino Frances and the Via de la Plata pilgrimage route. The city was founded as the Roman base camp Asturica Augusta and became one of the most important Roman cities in northwestern Iberia, its substantial walls dating to the third and fourth centuries surviving to considerable height in sections.

The Gothic Cathedral of Santa María, begun in the fifteenth century and completed with a Baroque facade in the eighteenth, is the principal medieval monument. Immediately adjacent, the Palacio Episcopal designed by Antoni Gaudí and completed in 1913 is one of the most distinctive works of Gaudí outside Catalonia, a Neo-Gothic castle in light stone with distinctive turrets and stained glass.

For pilgrims, Astorga is the gateway to the Maragatería and the beginning of the demanding stages toward the Cruz de Ferro, the Cebreiro, and eventually Galicia.