Villaquilambre

A cold day today…max was 18° and single figures in the morning…but cloudless, sunny and sparkling! We got up leisurely, had breakfast and made our way to the cathedral at 9.30 when it opens….an excellent move, as by the time we had finished, groups and many people arriving, and we had a beautiful visit with only a handful of people wandering round. This cathedral is almost perfect - gothic, tall, stained glass windows covering almost every space. Simple and straightforward…we got an audio description from a QR code. Should not be compared with Burgos, such different styles - Burgos is a large complicated area, with added chapels over the centuries, and much more ornate…both wonderful in their own way, but at the moment I am in love with León! And amazingly there was no scaffolding so it looked magnificent.

After that we walked along the camino route to leave León, as far as the monasterio San Marcos…we have always walked past it at the beginning of our walking day, and never stopped to look. It is a wonderful building, the church and small museum remains, and the main building is now a parador…very fancy 5 star hotel. But the church and museum were lovely, and we sat in the square afterwards in the sun…

Walked back round the walls again and went to a bar and had coffees..my first since I first went to hospital and actually found it nice thank goodness! Just hadn’t felt like it before.

At 1.30 we went and sat in front of the cathedral as an Oz doctor walker who had kindly examined me originally in San Juan at the beginning of everything was walking into León today, and he and Amr had kept in touch and we met for lunch! He needed sustenance as he had a further 7 kms to walk, and we met in much better circumstances and chatted and found he was from Warwick, Queensland, where Pip Wolstenholme (my great niece) is and he was sure his wife would know her, as small community and the horsey people all know each other…small world…very nice guy, and then he set off again and we might meet up in Santiago (he will be with his wife by then) as our days seem to coincide after he has walked to Finisterre.

Kindle time and downtime…Amr went for a visit to the Gaudi building…we went last time and I decided to duck that one, and then we also were booked in (free, but number limit) to visit the equivalent of the León county council building (their translation)…a gorgeous old palatial building, a 45 minute tour. Well, it was beautiful, but the tour consisted of standing in the courtyard while a very animated and knowledgeable woman described it and the history but all in Spanish, Amr was fine, but I gave up about half way through…standing, and not understanding is very tiring!! I saw a couple of others slipping out too…so now quiet time before dinner.

Back from dinner..very nice but nothing to report and sleep time!!Read more