A Day Off In León

Today was our third day off from walking along the Camino. We allowed ourselves to sleep until we woke up naturally. Even though we only slept 8:30 AM, it was such a treat to not be woken up by an alarm or by the sound of other Pilgrims rustling around in their bags. We had a delicious breakfast at a little pastry shop near our hotel before heading into the Old City. 

We had no idea, but there were a ton of fun activities going on in the city. We bumped into a half marathon that had shut down most of the streets. 

We think this band was playing at the halfway point. They weren't the best band but they were very enthusiastic. 

We had planned to see two churches today, The Cathedral of León and the Church of San Isidoro. When we arrived at the Cathedral, it was closing for mass. We almost stayed to watch, but because the church was closed for 4 hours, we figured the service would be quite long. 

While waiting for mass to end, we headed to the other church and were able to explore it without interrupting any services. It was a smaller, lovely church with an interesting museum attached. No photos were allowed inside, but they were allowed in the cloisters. 

In the museum, we were led around by a tiny Spanish lady who was giving lots of information about what we saw, but we weren't sure what she was saying becauas she only spoke in rapid Spanish. We got to see several wonderful frescos and relics while exploring the musuem. 

After seeing this church, we decided to go in search of lunch. Near the Cathedral, we found that a Medieval market had been set up and we decided to stop here for our lunch break. 

Eventually all of the booths opened and we had a lot of fun walking around and looking at what the people were selling (even though we couldn't buy anything to add to our already heavy packs). 

We then headed to the Cathedral. This Cathedral was built in response to the one in Burgos (to make sure León wasn't knocked off the map because of it's lack of an amazing church). This church, unlike the one in Burgos, was built in 50 years and was full of amazing stained glass. 

We visited the cloisters and bought tickets to see their museum. 

It turns out we were the only ones interested in the museum because they had to open it up just for us. It was a bit spooky walking around and looking at the old art all alone. The most interesting art we saw had to be a painting of Jesus in what appeared to be a skirt. I was able to snap a blurry picture for evidence. 

We are now resting in our hotel and preparing for our 26 KM walk tomorrow. Soon we will have supper  and get to bed after that (we have adopted a very early bedtime while Camino-ing). León was a great city to spend an extra day in and I really enjoyed exploring with Abe! 

Buen Camino!