“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have travelled.”

Mohammed

We are off again! As we make our way to the beautiful Basque Country, we have a quick one night stay in Leon. As we departed Santiago de Compostela, our tour director loaded The Way on the motor coach TVs for us to enjoy. I took the time to edit my last post, watch the movie, and look for pilgrims on the Camino trail. This is the “low” season, and the weather for these pilgrims has been brutal the past two weeks, but today for my journey we finally got a break – no rain!

The countryside is beautiful and I now understand why so many are drawn to walk the Camino. We entered Leon, went straight to the “old town” and were greeted with that charm you can only find in European cities. If you come here, don’t expect a lot of English, and most things like menus, exhibits, etc. were not translated. Gives us Americans a new appreciation for how foreign travelers navigate our cities. We headed to lunch on our own, then it was off to tour Santa Maria de Leon Cathedral with a local guide.

Santa Maria de Leon Cathedral is a massive Gothic cathedral. What makes this one so special and unique – the stained glass; it is stunning! The cathedral houses 125 large windows and 57 round windows. I wish we had more time to spend to admire the beauty. These windows were created from the 13th through the 20th centuries.

After the cathedral we took a quick walk over to the Basilica de San Isidoro. It houses the relics of San Isidoro of Seville. The mausoleum is the final resting place for many monarchs, princes, and counts. The alter is stunning with beautiful paintings devoted to the life of Christ.

Next stop, Casa de Botines. This building was designed by Antoni Gaudi when he was only 40 years old in 1892. What makes it more impressive is that he was given the task to have it built in only 10 months. I know we build many buildings today in less time, but none with such beauty, quality, and detail. He oversaw every detail including the design of the windows, and the designs of the various decorated windows.

We ended our day at another beautiful Parador – Hostal San Marcos. This is a 5-star parador built in the 16th century by King Ferdinand. It was refurbished and reopened a few years ago. The architects did a beautiful job integrating the new with the old. It is a “green” building. The lighting system takes a PhD to figure out, but this hotel was outstanding. From the open center, you can see down to the lobby bar, and lining the halls were beautiful works of art. It was like staying in a contemporary museum – and yes, I enjoyed this artwork more than the museum in Santiago de Compostela. Even the ceiling is a work of art. If you want a glimpse of this hotel, it is the Leon hotel in the movie The Way, although it looks a bit different inside. Outside the parador was an art instillation of decorated skulls. I wish we were here another night!

Tomorrow we go to the Basque Country and we will stay three nights in Bilbao. Leon was a beautiful small city, so if you do the Camino, I suggest you take a two-night rest and stay at the fabulous parador as a treat.

Ciao 💕