Our next stop was the small village of El Valle, near Astorga, where we would stay 2 nights in the lovely casa rural La Casa Grande Del Valle. We were hoping for warm weather to take advantage of it’s lovely gardens and pool but unfortunately it is still raining and overcast. The hotel had a great restaurant and bar which served amazing mojitas.

We stopped on the way at Astorga which is home to both Palacio de Gaudí Astorga and Cathedral of Santa María de Astorga.

We visited the Palacio de Gaudí which was of course amazing. It is one of the lesser known Gaudí buildings in Spain. Gaudí designed the palacio and started the build in 1889 but when the bishop died in 1893, works came to a stop amid antagonism between Gaudí and the Diocesan Board. He then resigned and the palacio was not completed unitl 1913 by another architect Ricardo García Guereta.

Astorga is a really lovely town that still has some of the Roman wall intact that surrounds a part of the city.

There is also some fabulous street art which depicts the conflicts between Napolean and the Spanish and British troops in 1808.

This town is also know for it’s confectionary and cakes, in particular the mantecadas de Astorga. This small cake was from the convent Sancti Spiritus in Astorga, and the recipe was saved by a nun in the 19th century and is still preserved today. This street art below depicts the mantecadas packing.