The last major stop on the Camino de Santiago in Castile-León is set amid lush, rolling countryside. Villafranca, grew from a long-ago Neolithic settlement into a significant place, beginning in the 9th century, as a way station on the Camino. And for a town of such small size (pop. around just 3,000), it’s exceptionally packed with atmospheric architecture – not just the churches, monasteries (a couple now housing hotels, such as the Convento de los Padres Paúles, above), and hospices you’d expect, but also the palaces and lordly mansions lining the main street Calle del Agua, along with a castle, as for various historic reasons it became a magnet for Leonese aristocrats over the centuries. One of these many churches of particular note is the 12th-century Romanesque Iglesia de Santiago Apóstol, at the entrance to the town, because of its Puerta del Perdón (Portal of Forgiveness), the only place where pilgrims could receive the same blessing offered in Santiago de Compostela itself, if they were too ill to make it the last 177km (110 mi.).
Read more in our post 8 Splendid Stops on Spain´s Way of St. James.
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