Day 27: Mansilla de las Mulas to León

We got an early start today and were rewarded with a beautiful, misty morning. It was nice to walk with Camino friends for a while, then we split off after a few kilometers. After 10-12 km, I basically started hitting the outskirts of León. I considered taking a bus through the industrial/commercial area, but after a 25 minute wait, I figured the bus wasn’t coming, so I just kept walking all the way in to the old city of León. It’s actually fun walking into a city after you get past the long slog of the outskirts. As I meandered through the old streets following the shells embedded in the stone, I got to an opening and looked up to see the amazing León Cathedral. As I stood gawking at the cathedral, I heard someone call my name. It was Phillip from Boston, who I met pretty early on but haven’t seen since Burgos. Meeting fellow pilgrims really is a special part of walking the Camino.
I was starving when I got here and I couldn’t check in to my hotel until 2 o’clock, so I found a great little restaurant and had a huge hamburger for lunch. I’ve also discovered cerveza y limon, or beer with lemonade, and they are delicious and refreshing! I’ve actually been drinking them since I got to Germany, into France, and now in Spain. It’s called a Radler and they have them on tap in most bars.
After a little rest, I met Vikram at the cathedral for a tour he set up. I didn’t really know what to expect inside, but I was blown away by all of the stained glass, especially for such an old gothic cathedral (13th C). It kind of reminded me of a cross between Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. It was a large cathedral with rose windows like Notre Dame, but it had much more stained glass like Sainte-Chapelle. Our guide said the architect was inspired by the French cathedrals, so that explained the similarities. All I can say is that I could have spent hours just looking at the windows and imagining what a medieval pilgrim would have thought walking in to that place hundreds of years ago. They must have been blown away!

I met up with Audrey from Alaska after the cathedral tour. It’s so crazy that I’ve met another Alaskan here. She is also a day ahead and leaving tomorrow, but perhaps we’ll meet again in Santiago.
My evening ended with a lovely dinner with Camino friends at an Italian restaurant beside the cathedral. We are all looking forward to a rest day tomorrow!Read more