We propose you a complete visit to Palencia during one weekend, in which there will be time to know the interesting monumental heritage that the city holds, to walk along its streets and delicious natural spaces and to enjoy the gastronomy and the leisure time. We hope you enjoy it!
A good place to start your visit is the Cathedral, popularly known as "The Unknown Beauty", which ranks among the three largest cathedrals in Spain. Its five entrance doors are well worth seeing: the San Antolín door, the Kings' or San Juan door, the Canons' door, the Bride and Groom's door and the Bishop's door, although the last two, on the Plaza de la Inmaculada, are the ones normally used to enter.
Once inside, you will understand the artistic scope of this church, from the Crypt, with Visigothic remains from the 7th century and Romanesque ones from the 11th, to its present-day alterations, including Gothic works such as the 12th-century Christ of the Battles, paintings by Berruguete and El Greco, the exceptional high altarpiece with paintings by Juan de Flandes, and the triptych of the trascoro, not forgetting the impressive collection of tapestries and religious silverwork in the Cathedral Museum.
Walking along Calle Jorge Manrique, you will reach Calle Mayor, the city's main shopping street. Almost one kilometre long, fully pedestrianised and arcaded, it protects passers-by from the weather and supports the classic glazed balconies.
Palencia is also a place for food tourism. Most tapas bars are in the centre, around the Plaza Mayor, Calle Mayor and the Paseo del Salón. These streets are as typical for having an aperitif as they are for shopping, and it is very pleasant to sit on any of their terraces, which liven up the daily comings and goings.
At lunchtime you can enjoy our varied restaurants, with fresh local produce. For dinner, you can go to the restaurants and tapas bars in the centre and end the evening in the Seminario area, ideal for after dinner. And since it is the weekend, you can have a drink in "La Zona", around Calle Puebla, Calle Estrada, Calle Rizarzuela and the Church of San Lázaro, where there is a wide choice of bars.
Enjoy the city
On Plaza Isabel la Católica stands the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Calle, in Jesuit style, which is why it is also called
"La Compañía". Here the patron saint of Palencia, popularly known as "La Morenilla", is venerated.
From here, along Calle General Amor, you will reach the Gothic Church of San Miguel, in the old Jewish quarter, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. Its beautiful tower stands out, and the people of Palencia proudly say that El Cid married Doña Jimena here. Every 1 January the Baby Jesus is baptised in this church, an event declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest.
Leaving by the main door, you reach the bank of the River Carrión, from where you get one of the best views of the church. On the right bank, across the bridge, is the Isla Dos Aguas Park, bounded by the natural course of the river and the cuérnago channel, which once supplied water to the fulling mills of the famous blanket factories.
At the end of Avenida Castilla, popularly known as the riverbank, you reach another of the bridges over the Carrión, the Abilio Calderón Bridge, better known as the Iron Bridge, a reminder of the bourgeois boom of the early 20th century. To the left, parallel to Calle Mayor Antigua, you will find Calle Mayor again, the artery of the city that Juan Antonio Bardem portrayed in his 1956 film Calle Mayor, which began shooting here. If you keep walking, you will reach the Plaza Mayor, home to the City Hall, a neoclassical building from the late 19th century.
Through the arcades of this square is the Mercado de Abastos food market, built in 1898, where you will find a great variety of Palencia's food products: from black pudding, suckling lamb and trout to seasonal produce such as snails and peas. You can finish your shopping with a good loaf of bread, rosquillas de palo or hojuelas.
If you come to Palencia, you cannot miss the Museum of Palencia, in the Casa del Cordón, a 16th-century building, where you can admire an impressive collection of archaeological pieces from Prehistory to the Middle Ages. Make the most of your stay to stroll through the city's many parks, which make Palencia one of the Spanish cities with the most green space per inhabitant.
You can also visit the Huerta de Guadián, whose name does not refer to a garden keeper (guardián), as some think, but to the surname of the family that owned the land until it was sold to the city in the mid-19th century. It is a true tree nursery, and its highlight is the single-nave Romanesque Church of San Juan Bautista, moved and rebuilt stone by stone from the village of Villanueva del Río, flooded by the Aguilar reservoir. Inside is the Romanesque Information Point, the perfect starting point to discover the Romanesque art of the province of Palencia.
Very close by is the Paseo del Salón de Isabel II, the city's romantic park, laid out on the former grounds of a Carmelite convent, with a wide variety of plants and pleasant walks.
To say goodbye
To start the day, you can go up to the Otero hill. Here you will find a three-nave hermitage where Victorio Macho is buried, the sculptor of the Christ, one of the symbols of the city; inside you can visit the Interpretation Centre devoted to him. Every April this picturesque setting hosts the Santo Toribio pilgrimage, declared a Festival of Regional Tourist Interest. From the viewpoint you can see one of the most impressive landscapes in the region.
Then you can visit the Canal de Castilla, one of the most important civil engineering works of the late 18th century, whose 207 kilometres, with a drop of 150 metres, were built to transport wheat from Castile. In the Dársena (dock), in one of the warehouses once used to store grain, the City Council has set up the Water Museum, an entertaining space for all ages. About three minutes away you can visit the Viñalta lock, which shows the complex hydraulic system designed to let barges overcome the difference in level.
If you carry on, you will reach the edge of Monte El Viejo. Nothing is more rewarding than a walk along its paths. At an altitude of about 850 metres and covering 1,434 hectares, it has become the true green lung of the city. Owned by the municipality since it was acquired from King Alfonso VII in 1191, its economic uses have given way to leisure for the people of Palencia, with several recreation areas, trails and sports facilities. It is a natural area of Mediterranean woodland, and the walk runs mainly through holm oaks, Portuguese oaks, rockrose and thyme.
