Full day in León

From now on we have breakfasts at all the hotels, and from tomorrow our bags are taken from door to door…very comforting!…so we had a good breakfast - at this place you each get a plate of a bread roll, 2 mini pastries, slice of cake, slices of jamon and a bottle of OJ. And you get tea, coffee etc…and other condiments…much too much food for many, but a good start and I had my first Cola Cao of the trip, preferring it to the coffee in a jug, although Cathy said it was ok.
That is a long talk about breakfast, but shortly after we left and were ready to visit the cathedral when they opened at 9.30…an excellent move because it is before the large groups etc arrive. So we had an audio tour (uploaded to your phone) of this wonderful building, with the pure gothic lines and amazing stained glass windows.
After that we did a walk beside and behind the cathedral where the old Roman walls join the cathedral walls..very pleasant, and along there we did have a coffee, very good, and of course as almost always here, any drink is served with something to eat, so 2 pieces of cake…I indulged, Cathy didn’t! Then, with Amr in mind, we went to check on our route out of town tomorrow morning. I have done it before, and should be perfect, but all I could think of was that the exit was near San Marcos, once a monastery and now a very posh parador. We knew looking at maps there was a direct line to get there from near those walls, but we diddled round and round along wrong streets till we now have it all sorted, and feel confident for the start of our walk.

That got quite a lot of steps in and and by now we were hot. When we first left the hotel in short sleeves we found it was rather uncomfortably cold to our surprise! So after the cathedral we did pop back and get jackets and of course soon after had them tied round our waists as it heated up like yesterday. But it was deliciously cool for walking early. Anyway, we went to a nice bar near a park and each had a sangria, which this time it came with a small portion of tortilla and bread…just perfect for lunch as neither of us were very hungry for a real plate of food, and this was just delicious.

Then we had a little sit in the park, Cathy called home and had good chats, and now a little downtime. This afternoon we’ll do our walking pack, set up sticks etc. and we’ll find somewhere appealing for dinner. - I’m hoping to find my chiperones, or pimientos de padron, but who knows.

A lovely pre dinner walk in the intense sun (Spanish sun always seems more intense in the afternoons than anywhere else…I know that must be mad, but it is so bright and invasive!)…we ended up having a drink where we went last night pre dinner…the waiter remembered us, he is so nice…this time the wine came with a slice of pizza!! Actually delicious, and we ate it, so not dying for dinner, which won’t be till at least 8 anyway, and back for another pause before venturing out. Cathy has now discovered the joys of Alberiño, a Galician white wine, and doesn’t drink anything else!! And we haven’t even got to Galicia yet! I think in the Bierzo area she will have to experiment…I will leave an account of the end of the day to Cathy, and any other comments of our doings…considering that a twin room consists of 2 twin beds pushed together, the same as a double room would be, we are doing very well in our new found intimacy!!
Cathy’s comments:
Mum has done a detailed account of the day, nothing more to add. I’ve got my first blister due to the many kms we did today to find our route out of León and we haven’t even started the Camino! The cathedral is a truly stunning gothic architectural building.
Dinner tonight was where we had a nightcap last night. A delicious feast of artichoke and paella overlooking the cathedral. An earlier dinner (relatively speaking for 🇪🇸) ready to set off waking tomorrow.もっと詳しく