León Day Off

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!

León Addendum

I am staying in a wonderful hotel, the Hotel Real Colegiata, an ancient monastery that used to house over one hundred monks.  It is four star and quite luxurious.  WooHoo!

On the back side (and attached) to the hotel is the Basilica de San Isadore where the remains of Saint Isidore rest. Isadore was the Archbishop of Seville and considered "the last scholar of the ancient world."

The main altar with a closeup on the left.

San Isidore 

I needed a break between the Basilica and the Cathedral.  The Cathedral didn't open for another forty-five minutes so I stopped for a little snack.  All I know is the free tapa was carne which is meat.  It was pretty good and best of all, I didn't think it was mystery meat aka road kill.  My best guess was pork.

The very ornate Santa María de Leó Cathedral is also called The House of Light or the Pulchra Leonina.  

Looking through the archway at the main altar.

The main altar

I couldn't begin to take photos of all of the stained glass windows.  There must have been thousands.  I caught the late afternoon sun casting light through them and it was magnificent. The brochure said there were more than 1800 square meters of stained glass.

The Cathedral is Spanish Classical Gothic in all of its fussy glory and I felt blessed to see such a spectacular tribute to God.

Mansilla de las Mullas to León

Hola! Buenos Dias!

It was very cold and overcast today.  I practically raced to beat the rain and it sprinkled on me as I got to Leon.  I had every bit of my warm weather gear on and as long as I didn't stop I was comfortable. It was in the high thirties when I started and never got any warmer.  They have taken snow off the forecast.

I can only imagine how cold he must have been in his waders.  He was smiling though.  Those fisherman...they are tough!  And it was fast moving water.  He had to be fighting the current.

I still love the storks!

You can see why I was hoofing it to get to my destination.  Look at those clouds.

I was just going to take a photo of the beautiful flowers and look who posed for the picture. He's a fine looking chap and he didn't even bark at me.  His look says it all.

My mileage guide said that today would be 11.2 miles.  Here is where I was at 11.2 miles.  Not even close.  My total distance was 16 miles and 36,769 steps. The trouble with that much additional mileage is that my feet get the message when it is going to be a certain mileage and then when it is further, they whine all the rest of the way.  And my stomach grumbles in protest.

This is the first chain that I have seen on the Camino.  Made me homesick!  Not for KFC but certainly for Kentucky.

 I had to walk through the "Las Cabezadas" which is the Feast Day of St. Isadore.  The Church mucketee mucks and the town councillors bow to each other in remeberance of an ancient dispute over who has what power.  There was lots of fanfare and there might have been a high mass because I saw lots of Cardinals, as well as important looking military and government officials. Security was high. I could see a little of the ceremony but couldn't get close enough for a photo.

I was so hungry when I got to León about noon but I wanted to find the hotel before the downpour.  The hotel didn't have a bar and LUNCH didn't start until 2:00 PM.  Heck, that is almost blue plate special in our country!  I braved the light rain to find this little bar. 

I ordered two of the Croquetas Cecina De León. OMG!  It was love at first bite.  They were accompanied by pimentos de pedrón.  The croquetas were fresh out of the fryer and they were basically mashed potatoes with a touch of ham rolled in breadcrumbs and fried.  These would stand up to any Southern-fried anything I have ever eaten.  They were so good I ordered two more.  Lip smacking heaven on a plate.  Dennis will be green with envy over the peppers.