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Ponferrada
«Ponferrada es famosa por el gran castillo de los Templarios.»Ponferrada is famous for the great Templar castle.
Ponferrada is the centre of El Bierzo, a basin in the west of the province of León enclosed by mountains and with a milder climate than the rest of Castile. It was born around a bridge built for pilgrims, grew with coal mines and today lives on wine and tourism.
Did you know
The castle of the Templars.
The castle was a stronghold of the Knights Templar to protect pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela.
How they talk in Ponferrada
«Berciano» indicates what belongs to the Bierzo, a territorial identity very strong compared to the rest of León. In the comarca, Galician and Leonese linguistic influences are heard alongside Castilian.
Everyday life in Ponferrada
The Templar castle in the centre
The fortress is inside the city, not outside, and you pass by it every day: inside it has a library of medieval facsimiles, and you can cross the drawbridge on foot.
«El castillo está dentro del pueblo.» — The castle is inside the town.
The iron mines are no more
The Bierzo lived on coal and iron until the nineties, and the closure emptied the villages of the valley: the old power plants are still there, turned off.
The «botillo» in winter
A large sausage of meat and smoked ribs, boiled and served with cabbage and potatoes: it is eaten in company between January and March, and is not made for one person alone.
«El botillo se come entre varios.» — The botillo is eaten in groups.
What to eat in Ponferrada
Botillo del Bierzo
Large sausage made of smoked ribs and tail, boiled and served with cabbage and potatoes.
Pimientos asados del Bierzo
Roasted red peppers, peeled by hand and dressed with oil and garlic.
Empanada berciana
Savoury pie filled with meat or cod, with the pastry made with lard.
Vino del Bierzo
Mencía red wine from the surrounding valleys: light, fragrant, very different from the wines of the meseta.
Festivals in Ponferrada
Noche Templaria
a weekend in July
The Templar castle fills with people in white tunics and red crosses, and they keep watch over the Ark of the Temple until dawn.
Fiestas de la Encina
8 September
The patron saint, found according to legend inside an oak tree, comes out accompanied by giants and a week of celebration in the centre.
What to see in Ponferrada
Castillo de los Templarios
Eight thousand square metres of Templar castle above the river, with a drawbridge and double gate.
Las Médulas
What remains of a mountain that the Romans dismantled by letting water run through it, to extract gold.
Basílica de la Encina
The Renaissance church of the patron saint, which the story says was found inside an oak tree.
Museo de la Energía
The 1920 coal power plant, left as it was, which you visit by following the path the coal took.
Where Ponferrada comes from
The iron-reinforced bridge
11th century
The bridge
The bishop of Astorga has the bridge for pilgrims reinforced with iron: hence «pons ferrata».
12th century
The Templars
The Order of the Temple receives the city and builds the castle.
19th–20th century
Coal
The mines of the Bierzo make it grow quickly.
1990 → today
After coal
With the mines closed, the city reorganises itself around wine and tourism.
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