El final del camino

While the city of Santiago de Compostela is not that well known in the U.S., it is the second-most visited pilgrimage site in Catholicism, second only to the Vatican. "El final del camino" is a limited series (only eight 75-minute episodes) that tells the story of the construction of the city's cathedral as seen through the lives of three brothers.

The brothers are orphaned when the Almoravides (Moors) raid their village and kill their parents. The oldest Gonzalo grows up to be the head of the guard (kind of a combination of the city's police and military). The middle brother Pedro is kidnapped in the raid and grows up amongst the Almoravides. The youngest Esteban starts out as a stoneworker for the cathedral but later becomes the visionary architect. The stories of the three brothers take place in the context of two power struggles: one for Spanish crown and another for power within the Catholic Church.

"El final del camino" is both well-done and entertaining. The cast is strong, both the principal and supporting characters. The story lines and dialogue are well-written. And the production does a great job of transporting the viewer back to 11th century Spain. The production seems to take particular care with the battle and fight scenes, which are gory and brutal, as one would imagine medieval warfare was. The construction of a cathedral in the Middle Ages was an awesome undertaking. The series does a great job of portraying the enormity of the struggle. "El final del camino" is definitely worth watching.

Set during the Spanish reconquest against the Moors that invaded Spain and mostly located in Galicia and its religious capital : Santiago de Compostela . It concerns three brothers : Gonzalo, Pedro and Esteban de Catoira played by Antonio Velazquez, Javier Rey, Guillermo Barrientos, respectively. As the main roles are 3 brothers, as one of them, Pedro, is incarcerated by the Muslims, later on, Gonzalo and Esteban fight to free him. But Pedro's become into Islam and as he's released, he goes back Galicia, as he turns a spy for the Almoravid Moorish.

This is a fictitious story contextualized at the 11th Century, interwoven with historical happenings. It contains feats, thrills, sword-play, spectacular battles and lots of action. The historical characters revolve around King Alfonso VI : Asier Etxandia, his wife Constanza de Borgoña : Cristina Castaño , his imprisoned brother Garcia, and the impressive building of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela by a builder maestro : Guillermo Barrientos who carries out its grandeur construction and with a bishop as greedy ruler : Juan Fernandez. And about historical deeds as conquest of Toledo in 1085 by King Alfonso VI, Almoravid invasion, and defeat and victory by the Christian army through several battles. All of them are the background of this decent and well set historical fiction. Stars an enjoyable main and support cast, such as : Antonio Velazquez as Gonzalo Catoira, he is the tough soldier who pulls off a big effort to release his brother, his faithful and beautiful wife well played by Begoña Maestre, Guillermo Barrientos as the wise brother who designs the fabulous Cathedral of Santiago and Javier Rey as the imprisoned brother who once freed he becomes a traitor. Other important characters are Asier Etxandia as the ambitious king Alfonso VI who will stop at nothing to get his kingdom purports , his wife Cristina Castaño as queen Constanza de Borgoña whose objective focuses on her descendants rule Spain, and the main nasty role goes to Juan Fernandez as bishop Pelaez, who as well as "Robert De Niro's The Untouchables of Elliot Ness" performs some similar violent scenes at a meeting. Other secondaries appearing are the following ones : Manuel De Blas as the pursued Jewish Efrain, Juan Diaz as Raimundo of Borgoña, Antonio Duran Morrris and Ismael Martinez as a valiant warrior. The series formed by eight chapters was professionally directed by Miguel Alcantud, Miguel Conde and Oscar Pedraza.

It is partially based on historical facts about Alfonso VI El Bravo, or The Brave , this was also the famous king and contender to El Cid of the "Cid" by Anthony Mann with Charlton Heston and John Frazer. As dead king Fernando I , inherited his son Sancho of Castilla. But Sancho is killed by Bellido Dolfos and Alfonso VI rules over the kingdom . In Church of Santa Gadea, Burgos, El Cid ordered king Alfonso VI to swear he didn't have murdered his brother Sancho. While Alfonso proceed to incarcerate his another brother Garcia till his death. Alfonso executed strong campaigns against the Moor kingdoms of Taifas. These ones asking for help the Almoravids residents in the North of Africa. Almoravids led by Ben Yusuff crossed the strait , invaded peninsule and vanquished Alfonso in battles of Sagrajas 1086, Consuegra and Ucles 1108. In the latter battle was killed his only male son of Alfonso VI who was born to Zaida, daughter of the Moorish King Mutamid of Sevilla that had been given to Alfonso in exchange of protect them from Almoravids.

We're always looking for Spanish series to watch to work on our Spanish and this is a pretty good one. It has quite a few different plots woven together that makes the story interesting. It's also got some good actors including Mateo from Velvet as one of the three brothers. You can watch this and a lot of other Spanish series on Spain's public TV website, rtve dot es but you won't have access to English subtitles there. If you like historical series like Isabel then you should enjoy this.