Exhibit pages
Chapter 5. Page 3.:
hillside, its seminary and cathedral clearly visible to the encroaching pilgrim.
Astorga is a small, pleasant city of narrow streets which wind away
from its central squares which house the cathedral, the Palace of Gaudi
and numerous shops and restaurants. We booked into a private refuge
located just past the cathedral up a street to the left. It was a beautifully
renovated house and almost luxury for 7 euros. It had clean and
ample showers and bedrooms with a downstairs patio providing a fountain
equipped with soothing salts and bowls to bathe weary feet -
everything tastefully decorated in wood and stone. My tendonitis was
giving me pain and so I readily soaked my feet in the cool water, almost
dozing off in the warm sunshine.
Unfortunately the restaurant we chose to eat in, in the same street
was not up to the same standard - above all in the service and food
which presumed to be something that it wasn’t. After several attempts
trying to convince the waiter to cook his steak more, my companion
Miguel had to leave it half raw on the plate, the waiter refusing to
change it, insisting it was better as it was (for the connoisseur, naturally).
A communication breakdown or just deaf ears?
Astorga is heart and soul of the Maragato region, famous for its stew
which I can’t vouch for as I don’t eat meat. However some good news,
it is also famous for its chocolate (which is surely one of the best ways
through which to communicate). Note that the factory is closed to visits
on Monday –so chocolate fiends plan ahead!
The people of the Maragato region have traditionally been seen as a
race apart, often frowned upon as they are said to originate from captive
Moors or other slaves who worked in the gold mines of Leon, or
perhaps have even older Phoenician roots as metal workers. Whatever
their origin they are a people associated with magic and heresy. The
infamous heretic bishop Priscillian had a strong following here (during
and after his lifetime in the fourth century). He was finally condemned
to death as a result of his beliefs which were based upon the evil of
matter and the purity of spirit thus postulating that the body was created
by the devil to punish sinful souls and thus denying the humanity of
Christ (which led to his downfall) as well as negating all sensual pleasures.
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