Ponferrada

Ponferrada stands for iron bridge and when you walk in the town, you can see a large bridge leading up to a massive castle or fortress. This was one of the important fortresses used by knights templars during the Crusades. With the muslim invasion in 711 into the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Catholic church saw this not just as a political invasion, but as a Holy War. St. James becomes Matamoros because, as the peninsula’s patron saint, stories began to circulate that he would appear miraculously during battles and defeat the infidels or those not on the “right” side. There are numerous paintings and sculptures along the Camino depicting a warrior Santiago on a white horse with fallen muslim warriors being trampled underfoot. The fortress in Ponferrada has an excellent history of the knights and their purpose during the Crusades. They were a religious order sanctioned by the Catholic church that protected the area and kept the invaders from crossing into Galicia. The fortresses location gives it a perfect view of the surrounding area and they successfully kept the muslims from reaching Galicia and Santiago de Compostela.

This town definitely deserves a stop for a castle visit and food. They often have concerts in the evening on the castle grounds if you are staying in town for the night!