Today was miserably cold and rainy. I did get out a little but only for short periods of time. Brrrrr! It was a good day to be off. Tomorrow is supposed to be better (cold but at least dry) and I will be back on the road and mountain bound.
I finally understand this statue in front of the Basilica. It shows that the clergy and the government didn't get along. Now they have a truce but don't you always wonder what goes on behind the scenes. I'll bet they are not all that cozy!
This is Alberto, our guide for a tour of our hotel. This hotel is a historical luxury wonder. Good to have a little pampering and plump feather beds. My room was once the room of a monk and it has a simple wooden cross over the bed. The hotel is the back side of the Basilica and once housed the monks that worshiped and led services at the church. It has been spruced up a bit since those days. REALLY spruced!
This is two stories up so we could see the old Roman wall. I didn't stay outside long.
The interior courtyard and back side of the Basilica.
Another view of the courtyard.
The above views are all of the staircase, ornately carved marble. Beautiful. The one directly above is underneath the staircase. Some of the fanciness comes from before the structure was a monastery. It was a palace. And a pretty la-te-da one too!
This room has desks in it. Although there are eight clerical students still at the monastery, this room is used to teach divinity classes at the University. What a magnificent ceiling.
This is a close-up of the center relief and it depicts San Isidore in battle at León.
Our guide told us that there is a funny if you look at the relief on the right. In Spain there is a good way to learn and a bad way to learn. The priest on the right is feeding the student the book by stuffing it in his mouth. That is a bad way to learn.
This is the daily newspaper in León. It is forty-four pages long and just as big as our newspaper...chocked full of news and only a few small adds. León has 130,000 people and we (Louisville) have over a million. Where is all of our news? All we seem to get are sports and bad photos of Trump. Surely there is other news.
The Casa de Botines building is an extraordinary work of late 19th century architect Anton Gaudi. It has facades facing on four streets with a turret on each corner. It is the headquarters of Caja España, a local savings bank.
Well, I feel like I am back in Kentucky where the locals are fighting for their pension rights. Perhaps they could unite with the teachers and the police in Kentucky.
I ended my night with dinner with my friends from Australia. They are headed home soon and will not be hiking further. I will miss them.
Buenes Noches!
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