Astorga is a compact Roman city in the province of León, sitting at the crossroads of the Camino de Santiago. Two monuments dominate the old town: the Cathedral of Astorga, a grand Gothic-to-Baroque hybrid built over several centuries, and the extraordinary Palacio Episcopal designed by Antoni Gaudí in the 1890s — the only major work Gaudí completed outside Catalonia. The palace now houses the Museo de los Caminos, dedicated to the pilgrimage routes through the region.
The town is also the heartland of the Maragatos, an ethnic group with mysterious origins who for centuries dominated the muleteering trade across northern Spain. Their culinary legacy is the cocido maragato, a hearty stew of chickpeas, vegetables, and several cuts of meat served in reverse order — meat first, then vegetables, then soup. Every restaurant in Astorga serves it.
Astorga was Asturica Augusta in Roman times, an administrative capital for the gold mines of the northwest, and traces of that earlier city are everywhere: a circuit of Roman walls almost complete in places, the Museo Romano with finds from local excavations, and the open-air remains of the forum and baths. The town is also one of the great chocolate-making centres of Spain, and the Museo del Chocolate explains why.