Roncesvalles is a magical corner of northern Navarra, one of those places which once visited is never forgotten. It is located next to the French border at the foot of the Pyrenees, and owes its worldwide celebrity both to its natural beauty and to the fact that it was the place where one of the most legendary battles in the West took place: the Battle of Roncesvalles. The legendary battle occurred in 778 and went down in history for being the subject of “The Chanson de Roland”, the most famous epic poem of the Middle- Ages.

The Castle of Ponferrada is popularly known as the Templars, because before being constructed as it appears today, the Knights Templar were present at the villa. The short and checkered relationship of the Templars with the town of Ponferrada led to the building of several fortifications and these are now the only vestiges of the original castle of Ponferrada.

The architecture of the present castle was probably begun in 1340, when the Knights Templar had already been dissolved and Pope Alfonso XI donated Ponferrada to Pedro Fernandez de Castro, a member of one of the most powerful families in Galicia. Ponferrada and its castle remained in the hands of the Galician branch of Castro until 1374, when it became a possession of the Royal Family.

Foto  jgaray. El Viejo Anselmo

Carrión de los Condes is one of the most outstanding villas of the beautiful Tierra de Campos, a region in the province of Palencia that many pilgrims have fallen in love with. In spite of its scarce 2,500 inhabitants, the town still retains great religious and cultural significance. The Codex Calixtino bears witness to its importance in the Middle Ages, extolling among its virtues the fact that there are no less than 12 hospitals for pilgrims. Among his most celebrated citizens stands the Marquis de Santillana. 

Foto Valdavia

The village is located at the confluence of two rivers: Burbia and Valcarce. Almost surely its origin was due to the necessity of creating bridges so as to facilitate the passage to pilgrims, as happened with many other towns on the Way. Thus there is good reason to suppose that, it probably developed with the start of the pilgrimages to Santiago in the 9th century, being in the days of the Codex Calixtinus (12th century) an important nucleus that appears as the end of its tenth stage.

Foto de LAcastermerrin88. Panorámica de Cristóbal Megido Almaraz