Explore two cities famous for their unique cathedrals.
Astorga and Tui are towns in northwestern Spain. They aren’t close to each other. I didn’t even visited them in the same day. I just lumped them together because of their awesome and very unique cathedrals. I also explored the towns a bit.
Astorga was founded by the Romans in the 1st century BCE. It has been on one of the routes of the Camino de Santiago for a thousand years or so. The Cathedral of Astorga is also part of the UNESCO site dedicated to the Routes of Santiago de Compostela.
I visited Astorga the day after León, mainly to see the cathedral. There are some Roman ruins as well. Afterwards, I headed to Lugo.
First look at Astorga featuring the Ancient Roman city walls and the Episcopal Palace designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí.
The front side of the Episcopal Palace.
Three churches in a row.
The Cathedral of Santa María de Astorga. A thin Gothic cathedral with a Baroque facade and the 17th century towers.
The Baroque doorways are insane.
A closer look.
Ridiculous.
Like seriously ridiculous.
A very narrow cathedral, but with a typical Spanish layout. Also very Gothic.
The chapels had this decorative scroll around the entrances. Each one was different.
Close up on that one.
A Baroque altar in front of a painted Medieval decorations. I love when the different eras of decorations are uncovered.
This chapel’s scroll.
The main altar is quite something, as well.
The choir in the center of the cathedral, very Spanish.
The amazing 16th century choir stalls.
Just ridiculous.
Now for a little wander.
The 17th-18th century Town Hall.
The Ancient Roman Domus del Mosaico del Oso y los Pájaros (House of the Mosaic of the Bear and Birds). Looks like someone dug a well through it.
I’m not sure if that is the mosaic the house is named after.
Now for Tui, which is located on the Spanish side of the northern Portuguese border. I came for the cathedral, I stayed for a wander.
Tui has a fairly long and skinny central square.
Didn’t take long to find the old city walls.
That’s the cathedral not a castle.
Cathedral of Tui. I’ve seen a few castle-esque looking cathedrals before, but never this much. It’s a Romanesque, with a Gothic front portal.
Very Gothic.
Love this. Our doorways are so boring now.
Romanesque on the bottom and Gothic on the top.
You can walk through the choir to get to the altar, which isn’t normal. But look at that organ.
I’m not sure what is going on here.
High altar and more choir stalls.
They really tried to incorporate that window into the design.
Gorgeous side chapel.
Can’t be a Romanesque church without weird carved capitals.
Cloister! There was a local flower show going on when I went through.
There’s a gorgeous view of the Minho River that divides Spain from Portugal.
View from the cloister tower.
I took a round about way to get back to the car.
Cute!
Gorgeous church.
Old tunnel.
Gothic door at the old Convento Del Camino.
A traditional Galician Hórreo, a type of raised granary found in northwestern Spain.
Ending my visit to Tui with a view of my next destination, the fortified Portuguese town of Valença.
Tune in for my next update where I explore a fortified town, an ancient city and a gorgeous monastery!
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Start at the beginning of this adventure!
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