A couple of quick visits to two lovely Spanish cities.
Palencia and Plasencia, two Spanish cities with similar names, and similar reasons I visited, their cathedrals. Of course, I wandered around a bit, but as a cathedral-aholic, I had to stop along the way and see them.
I visited Palencia on my third day in Spain, right after spending a morning in Burgos. Since it was a quick visit, I thought I would combine it with Plasencia, which I visited after Salamanca.
Palencia is a cute northern Spanish city, located between Burgos and Valladolid, both large cities. The Ancient Romans conquered a fortified ancient Celtic settlement, named Pallantia, in the 2nd century BCE. The Ancient Romans left behind a very impressive bridge behind, which is still used today.
There are so many Roman bridges in Spain.
The Cathedral of Palencia is a true hidden gem. While it isn’t very widely known, this cathedral is just as grand as one found in a larger city. Built between 1172 and 1504, it is a true Gothic cathedral, with soaring vaults, flying buttresses, and pointed arches.
Plaza de la Inmaculada and the Cathedral of Palencia.
Entering the church through the cloister.
Right at the altar in the center of the church.
The impressive altar has both sculptures of saints and painted panels.
Of course, I looked up.
The Choir is looking very Gothic.
This is definitely not Gothic.
That’s a very large reliquary, a container for relics.
Many Gothic cathedrals have three horizontal rows along the nave, called a triple elevation. The bottom is called the arcade, the middle is the triforium, an open gallery that overlooks the nave, and the clerestory, where windows are often found. The triforium can have an open gallery or room behind it, a narrow passageway, a wall (just for decoration) or another row of windows, or even a combination of all of the above.
Looking down the nave towards the main altar, which of course in typical Spanish fashion is blocked from view. The wet floor signs are for the flooded crypt below.
The sacristy had some lovely tapestries and more carved wood.
Just a lovely tapestry.
Plasencia has even more cool things than just the cathedral, such as city walls, a 16th century aqueduct in the Roman style, and a fantastic Plaza Mayor.
Before I headed into Plasencia, I headed up to the Santuario de Nuestra Señora, just above the city.
In the back of the church is a nice covered overlook.
Which has a nice view of the valley below.
I found convenient free parking right next to the 16th century aqueduct, locally known as the Arcos de San Antón.
I entered the walled city via the Puerta del Sol.
The Plaza Mayor is dominated by the Ayuntamiento (town hall) and its bell tower, which has a statue in medieval dress ring the bell.
The Plaza Mayor is also dominated by restaurants like every other town in Spain.
The remaining city walls are pretty impressive.
Puerta Berrozana on the north side of the old city.
The Puente de San Lázaro.
Cool old building built into the city walls.
The Puerta de Trujillo.
Which looks like this on the other side.
Back inside the city walls and on my way to the cathedral.
The coolest thing in Plasencia is its double cathedral (Salamanca also has one). While Salamanca keep its older cathedral mostly intact, Plasencia did something a little more interesting. The Old Cathedral was built between the 13th and 15th centuries in the early-Gothic style of the time. Right after the Old Cathedral was completed, someone decided to build a brand-new cathedral. The New Cathedral was built next to the Old Cathedral, which continued to be used during construction. They demolished the Old Cathedral as they built on, but they never ended up finishing the New Cathedral to its full length. There is now a wall separating the two halves and only a small portion of the Old Cathedral still remains. The Old Cathedral and the New Cathedral both have soaring vaults that now look too tall for their final lengths.
The front entrance of the New Cathedral, which is mostly Gothic with some Renaissance thrown in.
The Old Cathedral is very short. It’s probably wider than it is longer. The nave was cut across, with a new rear wall. The altar and side chapels were moved to new locations.
A super short nave with soaring arches.
The cloister of the Old Cathedral still survives and serves as a cloister for both cathedrals.
I really like this cloister even though it doesn’t have a garden in the middle.
The capitals of the columns were ornately carved in the Romanesque style. This one has some sort of monster on it. Kind of looks like a giant crocodile.
One of the first things you will see in the New Cathedral is this lovely altar.
And this super large fancy one.
And some cool tombstones in the floor.
Even the organ is beyond ridiculously ornate. Those are humans, some grotesque, carved on the bottom.
The choir is also fantastic.
Although it did have some questionable carvings.
Everything seems to be gilded in this cathedral.
This cathedral is over the top.
Back out in the cloister. This is how the New Cathedral and the cloister meets. Part of the New Cathedral wasn’t even finished.
The chapter house is also a bit extra.
Palencia and Plasencia were both pretty cool places to stop. I was very intrigued by their cathedrals, but also quite liked wandering about the cities as well. They were great stops and quite worth the time I spent there.
Check out my next update where I explore the medieval streets of Cáceres.
or
Start at the beginning of my travels around Spain!
