Villafranca del Bierzo is the last major stop on the Camino de Santiago before the long climb over the mountains into Galicia, and it has the medieval atmosphere to match. Founded in the 11th century by French monks from Cluny — hence the name, "village of the Franks" — it grew up around the pilgrim route and the Iglesia de Santiago, where exhausted pilgrims could earn a plenary indulgence at the Door of Pardon and turn back without losing their reward.
The town is a small grid of stone streets above the river Burbia, with a 16th-century castle of the Marqueses de Villafranca, a Baroque collegiate church, and the elegant Calle del Agua running through the old pilgrim quarter. Stop for a glass of Mencía at one of the bars on Plaza Mayor and time a meal around the local botillo, a sausage of pork ribs and tail that is the signature dish of El Bierzo.