Left an hour before dawn this morning and made it here for cafe con leche and toast. Thank God for headlamps to see the road. We did get lost a bit an swore to not walk before dawn again.
This area has been inhabited for centuries. There are tin artifacts found here dated to 2750 BC .
Hospital de Orbigo takes its name from the hospital that the Knights of Malta build to assist the medieval pilgrims.
The landmark of the village is the 13th century bridge over the river Orbigo. It replaced the Roman bridge. This long bridge has 19 arches and is on the Roman route from Leon to Astorga from 100 BC. The bridge was partial destroyed to slow the advance of Napoleon's forces into Spain, and rebuilt later.
The landmark of the village is the 13th century bridge over the river Orbigo. It replaced the Roman bridge. This long bridge has 19 arches and is on the Roman route from Leon to Astorga from 100 BC. The bridge was partial destroyed to slow the advance of Napoleon's forces into Spain, and rebuilt later.
There is a legend about the Orbigo’s bridge -- "The tournament of the Honorable Passage." This tournament took place in 1434, when Suero de Quiñones, a prestigious knight from Leon, asked the King his permission to celebrate a special tournament. Every knight that wanted to cross the bridge had to participate. If they didn’t they had to leave a glove as a sign of cowardice and cross the river by wading.
The knight was trying to impress a young lady be "breaking 300 lances for her". At the end of the year he only broke 200 lances -- she was not impressed. He took the bracelet he intended to give her as a wedding gift to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and left it on the altar. Years later one of the knights that had to wade the river killed Suero in revenge. Sounds like a good movie -- A Knights Tale?
We are off to Astorga for the night.
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| Bridge at Hospital de Orbigo |
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| Were we planned to stay last night, but we had breakfast here instead |
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