Astorga

Today is (hopefully) my last day playing catch-up and, arguably, cheating by taking the bus. I still had a little bit of ground to cover and had heard that the way out of Leon was shit walking; out through ugly suburbs. One more bus then!

I've added in a couple more Leon pics taken on my evening stroll last night. Happy I didn't miss out on the opportunity for gelato and seeing the sun set over the cathedral and the Roman walls. Absolutely giddy over the Roman walls by the way.

My last night in Leon had its ups and downs; the ups being free pizza for dinner that someone left behind, and making friends with an older Austrian lady and an Australian (Darwin) living-in-London girl around my age. I headbutted into their conversation with the social desperation I apparently only get when devoid of conversation for over 7 days, and we sat around chatting for about an hour before bed. Sarah (Australian) and I even exchanged Instagrams! Look at me go. The down was discovered the next morning; bed bug bites 🤦‍♀️ It was bound to happen, and I'm not that bothered by a bug bite, but I just hope they haven't hitched a ride in my stuff!! 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♀️

After trotting across town to the bus station, I was arriving in Astorga a mere hour or so later. I was happy to be back on the move and keen to explore! More cathedrals, a Roman museum, apparently very good chocolate!!

First stop was the albergue to ditch my bag, and I was delighted to see it's an absolute garden paradise. It charmed me so much that I agreed to attend the 14 euro communal dinner tonight, rather than feed myself for a quarter of that on supermarket snacks, they did well there.

After that it was a visit to the cathedral, a look at the Roman walls and the ruins of a Roman house(!!), a beer and tapas break, and an extended lounge around the garden. Pretty much everything in Spain shuts from 2-5pm-ish for siesta. I'll hole up here (torture) and then venture back out for the Roman museum. Note to self: must buy some chocolate.

Edit: went to the Roman museum, yet still without chocolate...Read more