Astorga

We landed in Madrid safely and Mary Ann and I enjoyed coffee, tea, and croissants as we waited for Tresa from Germany. At the right time, we picked up our rental car from Hertz - they upgraded us to a bigger car - for the win!

We made our way over from Terminal 4 to Terminal 2 and picked up Tresa and we were off to the north. Here’s a collage of me driving and some shots of the scenery by Mary Ann:



On our three hour ride, Tresa and Mary Ann endured my singing as I tried to stay awake and Mary Ann tried to take pictures of Camino signs symbolizing a seashell as I whizzed right by. Here’s one of her many attempts:



She even tried to take a picture of shell signs that symbolize those who are making the pilgrimage and guides the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela when I had to point out one was just a Shell gas station sign....we all had a good laugh.

We made our way to Astorga where we parked and lunched at Restaurant Chalet de Josele which is attached to the Hotel Ciudad de Astorga. Here’s our meal which included a Spanish tortilla, smoked meats, and some croquettes:

After waiting a long time for our check, we went to the Episcopal Palace, a Gaudí designed building which is one of very few of his that was constructed outside of Barcelona. It now houses the Museum of the Camino and here are some photos:

We wandered the garden designed also by Gaudí and similar to the Palau Güell in Barcelona. In the garden, there were three angels that were designed by him as well that were supposed to sit on top of the building. I had us stand in front of the angels for a selfie





When we were walking to the cathedral, I realized there was a small slip of paper and envelope on our car as we had forgotten to pay for parking and leave a receipt on the dashboard. At first I thought the ticket was 90€, but looking at it closer and confirming with the tourism office, if we paid by 5:19 pm, we could cure the issue for only 3€ which we immediately did. Here’s a photo of the experience and Mary Ann slipping the envelope into the the box:

At the cathedral of Astorga, we picked up our Compostelas or pilgrim passports and got our first stamp! This was also to reduce the price of admission for pilgrims. We wandered the museum and cathedral - here are a few photos:

Then we hopped into the car and drove to Leon. After getting gas and circling around the block, we arrived at the AC Marriott in Leon where we dropped off Tresa to check in and left our luggage. Mary Ann and I dropped off the car rental about 3 minutes away and walked back to the hotel before it started to rain. 

At the hotel, I showered to wash the day off and Mary Ann and Tresa got a recommendation for dinner at a restaurant called Fabrica just around the corner. We shared a salad, ziti, and some pork cheeks with vegetables. Here’s a photo:

After months of planning, we had a successful logistical day with planes and a car, and tomorrow, we explore Leon before starting our walk on the Camino!