Paseo Maritimo Live Cam

This stage, which is somewhat longer than the previous one, largely follows the N-120.

Still in La Rioja, St. Dominic's road crosses Grañon by Santiago St and the Calle Mayor. Immediately afterwards, the itinerary reaches the lands of Burgos at Redecilla del Camino which also used to have a hospital for pilgrims and still preserves part of the Way in the shape of its Calle Mayor, in the centre of which we find the church. Two kilometres (1 mi.) further on lies Castildelgado where a hospital and the Church of Nuestra Señora la Real del Campo were founded in the 12c. A little later on the leit, the traveller comes to Vitoria, St Dominic's birthplace. The font in the church is still the one where the saint was baptized.

Belorado is another village that owes its existence to Castilians on one side and Frank settlers on the other. It also used to have a pilgrims' hospital. Very close by is Villafranca de Montes de Oca, a name that is reminiscent of its original Frank (ie, franco) settlers. lt was widely known in the Middle Ages and is mentioned with praise in some chronicles of the pilgrimage, mainly because of its Hospital of La Reina. The Church of Santiago has a font with bautismal water, which consists of the largest shell along the Way to Santiago.

After another 12km (7,5 mi.) we reach the Monastery of San Juan de Ortega, a hostelry founded in the 12c by another saintly monk who, like Santo Domingo, built roads and bridges to make the passage to Compostela easier.

After that, the Way split into several itineraries to Burgos. It is impossible to describe all the valuable works of art that are kept in this magnificent Gothic church because there is not enough room. The figure of the Holy Christ was one of the most venerated by the pilgrims who claimed that his beard grew and his wounds bled. Apart from the cathedral, the traveller is faced with quite a number of obligatory visits in Burgos, but above all Miraflores Charterhouse and the Monastery of Las Huelgas Reales.

Leaving Burgos in the direction of Madrid, the traveller comes to the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, worldwide know for the monks performing the Gregorian Chant. The cloister -with its towering cypress- is perhaps one of the most extensively studied examples of Spanish Romanesque sculpture. Back in Burgos, one should leave in the direction of Madrid and turn off the N-120 after a short stretch following the road signs to León. Tardajos and Rabé de las Calzadas are reached in no time and from there the Way used to pass through Hornillos and then reach Hontanar and Castrojeriz. But today the traveller will find it easier to make a few detours following the regional roads of the N-120.

The next stage along the Way is reached over the regional roads connecting Castrojeriz and Frómista. Itero del Castillo in the shelter of an old fortress, the bridge across the Pisuerga and ltero de la Vega are other milestones on the route to Compostela. In the last mentioned village, St James is venerated as a pilgrim in the Hermitage of La Piedad. At Boadilla del Camino, which is also very close, the Church of Santa María (15/16c) should be visited. Frómista appears at last before the traveller as one of the stages that shouId be visited at leisure. The Church of San Martín is one of the best Romanesque examples on the Way. Then there are Santa María del Castillo, San Pedro and the Hermitage of Santiago with many traces of the grandeur of Frómista, where the Way was joined by a road coming down from Santander through Reinosa and Cervatos. The former Hospital of Palmeros has been converted in hostelry.

A 13 km (8 mi.) regional road links Frómista with Villalcázar de Sirga. In Población de Campos, which also used to have a pilgrims' hospital, two Romanesque hermitages are left. A little further along, we reach Villalcázar de Sirga (or Villasirga as it is called in the medieval chronicles) which lies around the Church of Santa María la Blanca. The building houses excellent Romanesque sculptures apart from a Renaissance altarpiece. The traveller's attention is drawn to the seated figure of a Virgin in front of the Chapel of Santiago. The route went through Carrión de los Condes following a broken line. Coming from Frómista, on the left there is first the 13c Convent of Santa Clara. Close by stands Santa María del Camino a 12c Romanesque building with a good collection of works of art. By leaving the square along the same street which brought the traveller to this point, one soon reaches the Church of Santiago with a façade where a magnificently sculptured frieze stands out. The seated figure of Christ surrounded by the symbols of the evangelists is no doubt one of the best 11c works of Jaca art.

On the way out of Carrión, one should stop at the Monastery of San Zoilo and visit the magnificent Plateresque cloister in detail nowdays devoted in part to a hotel. It is one of those examples of the Spanish Renaissance where Gothic lines are included in a composition that had absolutely nothing to do with the medieval tastes of the time.

Keeping to the N-120, there are some interesting places along the next 43 km (27 mi.) to Sahagún. Calzadilla de la Cueza, Ledigos, Terradillos de Templarios and Moratinos are villages that came into being and grew from the devotion to St James and all preserve reminders of the Middie Ages.

Sahagún was the seventh stage of the Guide included in the Codex of Calixtus and was dedicated to St Facundo and St Primitivo.

The Churches of San Tirso and San Lorenzo -among the best Mudéjar architecture-, are the most outstanding buildings in this old town which used to belong to the richest and most bustling on the Way. About 5 km (3 min.) from the town and off the route to Santiago stands San Pedro de las Dueñas, a good Romanesque building.

From Sahagún to Villafranca del Bierzo

The first stretch of the Way in the Province of León follows a route where the use of cars is somewhat limited. lt links Berciano del Real Camino Francés and El Burgo Ranero with the N-601 at Mansilla de las Mulas. Those who prefer surfaced roads can use the national road that links León with Valladolid by leaving Sahagún in the direction of Mayorga and then taking one branch road after the other on the right to visit the villages of the pilgrimage. Berciano del Real, however, can be reached directiy from Sahagún.

In Mansilla de las Mulas part of the medieval walls are still preserved. From this point, the route coincides with the N-601 as far as León. One should make a short detour, however, after leaving the village and visit the Mozarab Monastery of San Miguel de Escalada (12 km; 7,5 mi.). The next halt is León where the eighth stage of the Codex of Calixtus came to an end. The town used to be one of the main Christian ones in the Middle Ages. In order to trace the itinerary of the pilgrims to Santiago we would advise the visitor to park his/her car shortly after crossing the Bridge of El Castro and enter the old part of the town by Miguel Castaño St as far as the Church of Santa Ana. A little further along stand the Church of Santa María del Mercado and the Convent of La Concepción. La Rúa -a lovely medieval street- leads to San Marcelo Square, which is a beautiful complex with the church of the same name. From here the Way continued to the cathedral with a detour towards the left to the Collegiate Church, which used to be one of the main goals of the pilgrims on the long journey.

Once in León the cathedral suffice to say that it is in the purest Gothic style to be found in Spain. It was built in the 13c as a lesson of the new architecture which replaced the heavy stone walls with large windows that filled the interior with light. Special attention should be paid to the figure of St James on the left of the «Virgen Blanca» (White Virgin) in the main portal. Tradition demands that the pilgrims rest their hands on the small worn column which is the pedestal.

The Collegiate Church of San lsidoro, on the other hand, is the most accomplished Romanesque building. Comparing it with the cathedral, the traveller goes back in time by a century when he discovers the splendid museum of wall paintings in the Royal Pantheon, which is at the same time a genuine example of Romanesque architecture and sculpture. The movable objects of art -silver and goldware, ivory, codices and cloth kept in the Collegiate Church form one of the most complete and eloquent collections of the Middle Ages. They left along La Renueva St in the direction of the convent of San Marcos. This Renaissance palace is decorated with scallops which must have looked quite familiar to the Santiago pilgrims since they wore one as their emblem.

After crossing the Bernesga, the traveller will come to the N-120 leading to Astorga. The forty kilometres (25 mi.) of this stretch with its villages marking the Way to Santiago are covered comfortably. After drawing level with the Hospital of Orbigo, one discovers the Orbigo Bridge on the right, one of the most important ones on the Way. It became famous in the times when the courtly customs of the Renaissance appeared on the Way.

At this point Astorga is very near. It is encircled by walls and according to the medieval chronicles it used to have-twenty-two hospitals to take in the pilgrims who came down the socalled «French Way» and those from La Vía de la Plata (ie, the Road of Silver) and from Portugal. The Gothic cathedral has an impressive Baroque façade. The neighbouring Episcopal Palace which houses a pilgrimage museum called Museo de los Caminos is a Neo-Gothic building by Gaudí and was constructed at the end of the last century. Other monuments are the town hall, Roman wall and the ergastulum (a Roman slave prison).

Near the Church of San Pedro begins the regional road (about 50 km; 30 mi. long) to Ponferrada by way of Santa Colomba and through the Valley of El Silencio (Silence). The road practically follows the route to Santiago on its way through the region around Astorga, which is known as La Maragatería. Valdeviejas, Rabanal del Camino and Foncebadón still have some medieval remains and deserve to be explored on foot because their old buildings could easily be the background to the stories of the Codex of Calixtus. On the way out of Foncebadón, La Cruz de Ferro (Cross of Iron) rises from a pile of stones and following a tradition dating from Roman times every wayfarer should add a stone of his own on passing. In the Parish Church of El Acebo there is an interesting figure of St James as a Pilgrim. In Molinaseca, we still find a Calle Real and a former hospital. Very shortly afterwards the traveller reaches Ponferrada.

The origin of this town is in fact the Bridge (Puente) Ferrada 11c. Later the castle of the Knights Templars also rose near the Sil between the 11c and 14c, probably in order to increase the safety of the Pilgrims' Way. The Clock Tower and the Town Hall are the final embellishments of a prosperous town of the Way.

From Ponferrada as far as Villafranca del Bierzo (21 km; 13 mi.) the route continues along the N-VI. At Cacabelos, a visit should include the Hermitage of San Roque. Villafranca del Bierzo is the last stage before we reach Galicia. It is another settlement that developed from the pilgrimages, was inhabited by Franks and stood in the shelter of a Cluniac monastery. When sick pilgrims reached the (12c) Church of Santiago at the entrance of the borough, they were allowed to consider themselves entitled to jubilee. The pilgrims set out again with the fortress on their left, down the street of El Agua -which still has a medieval atmosphere today- and left Villafranca by the bridge across the Burbia.