You really need to add Holy Week in Spain to your bucket list. As I write this it is Easter Sunday evening and it has been a remarkable week. We thought Leon M – W was great with processions every night but Astorga turned out to be as good or better for Holy Thursday thru Easter Sunday. The city was flooded with people watching the processions that seemed.to grow each day and evening.
We attended Mass Thursday evening in the Cathedral with the Bishop of Astorga as the celebrant. It was a bit of a low key Mass but nice.
We asked around about Easter Masses and we were surprised to learn there is just one Easter Sunday Mass at 12 noon in the Cathedral with all other celebrations occurring on Saturday night around 10PM in the local Churches. We went to the 12 noon and soon discovered why it was so special. The Bishop was the celebrant and all the local priests were with him. The service actually starts with a procession thru town at 11 ending at the Cathedral. We got into the cathedral earlier and had great seats. Photos were not allowed but I got some anyway. They had a full choir and the organ was beautiful.
There is other stuff to do in Astorga such as viewing the Guadi palace. A really good attraction.
Some other photos of the processions. I have tons of videos but they don’t seem to post.
Tomorrow the Camino begins again for us and the rest has helped. Although days off don’t really mean too much rest as we estimate we walk 4 to 5 miles a day in town looking around. In Astorga there were many many pilgrims and we got that feeling again of being left out.
We knew the Camino would get crowded as Easter came but we were surprised learn over 2000 people checked into Santiago yesterday. That’s correct over 2000 in one day finished in Santiago.