Day 17: A Day of Rest in Leon

We've already agreed that we're coming back to this city--and not by foot.

Calle Ancha (Wide Street) Where we had our morning coffee

After walking 120 kilometers in  three days, we really needed some down time.  Today started with temperatures in the 40's and the high was only 70.  Wow.  Just wow.

The historic center of Leon is beautiful.  It's surrounded by the remnants of a tall, wide Roman wall and is centered on its beautiful Gothic cathedral.  The Cathedral was built between 1205 and 1301, in an era when the city had all of 5,000 inhabitants.  The architects maximized the use of stained glass and minimized the use of stone--in direct contrast to the heaviness of the preceding Romanesque style.  So airy was the design that sections of it collapsed centuries later, requiring major restoration in the 19th century.

After coffee this morning, our first stop was the Cathedral and its adjoining museum.

The Cathedral as viewed from the attached museum's cloister

One of four rose windows

It's all glass: the largest collection of midieval glass in Europe

After touring the cathedral, we visited the attached cloister and museum.  It has an enormous collection of medieval art.  Usually, I don't have patience for this stuff, but the collection was exquisite and the items were incredibly intricate and well preserved.  The weirdest part was this: from the cloister, they unlocked a door to let us into the museum, unattended.  Then, they locked the door behind us, saying that they had TV cameras and would let us out when we were ready!

After this experience, we then walked over to la Casa de Botines, designed by Antoni Gaudi, the famous architect from Barcelona.  It houses a museum, but we didn't go inside.

La Casa de Botines

Right across the street from la Casa de Botines is the Palacio de los Guzmanes, an amazing building that's significant because it wasn't built with church or state funds.  It was the home of the wealthy Guzman family.

Palacio de los Guzmanes courtyard

A Random Knight off the Courtyard

From here, we walked over to the Basilica of San Isodoro, a famous church that is the source of much of the medieval artwork in the cathedral museum.  Attached to it is a palace, a cloister and a museum.  We toured that too.  This is a lot of museums in one day.  They didn't allow photos, but there were two amazing parts.  http://www.hotelrealcolegiata.com/museo/

One was a chalice, alleged to be the one from the Last Supper (Indiana Jones fans should be paying attention).  It was in use in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jeruralem from the 300's to the 1000's when it was looted by the Muslims and sent to Cairo.  It was later given by the sultan in the mid 1000's to a king of a region of Spain in gratitude for food aid received during a drought.  It's been in this place almost ever since, but now the simple stone cup is adorned with scads of gold and precious stones.

The other great part of this museum is a set of frescoes that adorn the Royal Pantheon.  They are beautifully preserved and never restored.  Having only been cleaned twice since the 1100's you can really appreciate the artistry and original colors of the era.  In the depiction of the Last Supper, you can see that same chalice.

We then walked over to the Parador where we wanted to stay.  It's the site of a former convent and hospital for pilgrims on their way to Santiago.  It's undergoing renovation.  We will resume our walk there tomorrow.

The Parador housed in the Convento de San Marcos

You've got to admit it: this is a beautiful city.  Next we walked back to the center and had lunch of roast lamb in a beautiful restaurant courtyard about a block from the Cathedral.  After lunch, a siesta.  As soon as I finish this blog post, we'll go out for tapas and then get some sleep. 

Statue of a pilgrim, shoes off, outside the parador.  Very typical pilgrim behavior.

Tomorrow, we're hitting the road at 6:00 AM.  The next phase is all through mountains, so there won't be as many kilometers per day--thank goodness!