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Published: November 6th 2015
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We had a four-day weekend recently, and it happened to fall over my birthday, so a friend and I headed east to the province of León. The border of the province is only about a two-hour train ride from Ourense, but the change in landscape is remarkable. We traveled through green mountains to more reddish-dirt hills, to eventually a relatively flat, drier landscape.
Our first stop (about three hours along the train ride) was in a town called Astorga. I’d read that it was a cute town, and it also had one of architect Gaudi’s only constructions outside of Catalonia. Wikipedia told me there was a distinct ethnic group called Mastorgas there (but we didn't happen upon them).
We easily found the Gaudi construction, the Episcopal Palace, which is right next to the massive cathedral. Astorga is along the Camino de Santiago, which may explain the cathedral’s size. I expected an ‘episcopal palace’ to be a home for the bishop, but it turned out to currently be more like a museum with a lot of religious imagery. In addition, the basement displayed history dating to the Romans and earlier. Astorga was one of the most
important Roman cities back in the day (I’m talking like 1900 to 2000 years AGO). The top floor of the Episcopal Palace was modern, local art. For a few euros, it’s worth checking out, but don’t expect historical living quarters like I did.
Astorga also is famous for desserts! According to Wikipedia and one source in Spanish, Astorga was the first place in Europe to start producing and marketing chocolate (Hernan Cortes knew the Marquis of Astorga). Even now there are chocolate factories and a chocolate museum! There are other desserts that seem to be famous locally there, and all of the bakeries look so attractive. We sampled some ‘mantecadas’, which are in between muffins and cupcakes as far as texture, and they have a sugar topping. Ours were pretty crumbly and not that exciting.
Summary of Astorga: The town itself was nicer, more modern, and bigger than I expected. It also was way more touristy than I expected (but it was a holiday weekend). The only restaurants we found were full of tourists and more expensive than anticipated. Give it three to four hours. Pack a lunch, but stop at a bakery for
dessert and a souvenir shop for some road-chocolate.
We caught our train to León with 1 minute to spare. It was just 30 or 40 minutes from Astorga to León. We arrived to find a city bigger than Ourense, constructed in a very different style from Ourense. León is the capital of the province of the same name. It’s part of the (bigger) autonomous community of Castilla y León, but because León has a separate history, culture, and a floundering language of its own (Leonese), there is a movement to be independent from Castilla.
Although the Leonese language is undergoing a bit of a revival (and there’s graffiti written in Leonese), it’s not too common to hear it around the streets of León, unlike Galician in Galicia. In fact, this was the first time I’d been outside Galicia in Spain, and the shock for me was hearing identifiable Spanish spoken in the streets. I hadn’t even realized how much I wasn’t picking up in Ourense. Not only is Galician spoken frequently in Galicia, but the Spanish accent there is different from what I’m used to (there is more musicality to it; some may say
it sounds more Italian). Any Spanish I studied immediately before I came to Spain was ‘standard’ Castillian-style Spanish. I’m not saying that I prefer one Spanish or the other, sound-wise, but I do think that I could advance a lot more quickly in my Spanish if I lived in León.
Beyond the Spanish, León is a pretty swell city in its own right. It’s not huge, but it just felt like more was happening than in Ourense. The old city is full of plazas, bars, and restaurants. The streets generally are wider than in Ourense, which gives it a grander feeling. Architectural materials tend to be browner stones (compared to Ourense’s gray), lots more bricks, and buildings painted a variety of colors. When we visited, the leaves were changing on the trees, which in some places (especially next to brick buildings) gave it the feeling of being in the northeastern US. Its one downfall (in my book) is being really flat. Part of Ourense’s charm is the curves and hills of the old city.
We mostly wandered around and went to different cafes and restaurants—we didn’t go into any tourist places, although the cathedral
is supposed to be pretty awesome. It is grand and much nicer-looking that Ourense’s. But it’s 5 euros, and I’ve been in a lot of churches in Europe.
Although Ourense is along one of the routes of the Camino de Santiago and much closer to Santiago de Compostela, there were a lot more pilgrims passing through León. León is along a different route, and seems to have more Camino-centric stuff around town. For example, the symbol for the Camino is a seashell, and the important guy is Santiago Matamoros (Saint James the Moor-Killer (not kidding)). In both Astorga and León you see a lot more imagery of the seashells around town, as well as religious statues and paintings of Saint James.
Something else León is known for is giving free tapas (small snacks) with every drink you order. So when I ordered tea, beer, or wine (the local red wine was great!), I got chips, tortilla, chorizo (sausage) . . . The place that gave chorizo gave us each a piece on a skewer over an ashtray full of a mysterious blue flame. So it cooked right on the bar—really neat! Although a warning
about the morcilla (blood sausage) in León—my companion ordered it expecting a sausage-shaped thing, but it turned out to be more like a paste to eat with bread. It seemed to be a pretty potato-centric city—we probably got potato chips as at least half of our tapas.
Summary of León: I could see myself living there—it’s just a comfortable, charming place, and it was easy to find bars and cafes that would be ‘regular’ spots. It’s definitely worth a day or two, including a night bar-hopping in the old city. Beware the chilly wind that blows there, though!
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