Just before reaching the bridge on your right is the Bar El Puente which has a lovely garden to relax in.

Puente de Órbigo (meaning bridge over the river Órbigo) is the original town and there has been a settlement here since Roman times. Hospital de Órbigo which is the town across the river came into existance in the 16th century developing around a pilgrim hospital (hostel).

The current magnificent Gothic bridge dates from the 13th century, although several of the 19 arches have had to be rebuilt over the centuries. The most recent arches to be rebuilt are the first and the last arch which were destroyed in 1809 by the locals in order to impede the advance of Napoleon’s army against the British during the Peninsular War.

The bridge is also known as the Puente del Paso Honroso (the bridge of the honourable passage) due to an event that happened in the Jacobean holy year of 1434. In that year a knight called Suero de Quiñones who in an attempt to overcome his unrequited passion for the lady Doña Leonor de Tovar, successfully petitioned King Alfonso II to be allowed to issue a jousting challenge to all comers. The challenge was in the form of a jousting tournament that would last a month. Don Suero and a group of his best friends would challenge any knight who wished to cross the bridge to a joust. Any knight that declined the challenge would be obliged to deposit a glove as a symbol of their cowardice and then would have to ford the river instead of using the bridge.

With help from the King news of the tournament spread across Europe. The tournament started with great pomp and ceremony on July 11th 1434. The date was designed to maximise the pilgrim traffic passing through Puente de Órbigo on the way to Santiago for the feast of Saint James. Don Suero and his close friends were successful winning all approximately 100 challenges over the month the tournament lasted. There was one fatality that of a Catalán knight called Asbert de Claramunt who was fataly struck by a lance directly in the eye. On Thursdays during the tournament, Don Suero would wear an iron band around his neck as a sign of his enslavement to love. At the end of the tournament Don Suero and his friends made a pilgrimage to Santiago and there deposited a blue ribbon and a gold ring which symbolized leaving behind his love of the lady Doña Leonor.

Since 1997 the town hosts an annual festival during the first weekend of June to celebrate the tournament of the Paso Honoroso. During the festival people dress up in medieval costumes. The festival culminates on the Sunday with a re-enactment of a jousting match.

Walking over the bridge now you may wonder why such a large bridge was necessary to cross such a narrow river. This has been the case since the creation of the Barrios de Luna dam in 1951. This dam provides the water supply for 50000 hectares of arable land in the area that you have passed through.