Day 20: León zero day

My rest day in León with M&K started with my favourite breakfast so far: orange juice, muesli, yoghurt, coffee - the same as I have in NZ - and a bonus piece of toast. Perfect!

After a very leisurely breakfast, we set off in the rain (umbrellas up everyone)...

... heading for the cathedral, but appreciating the sights on the way

So to the cathedral (Catedral de Santa María)

The stained glass windows were impressive...

...as were the other views as we wandered through...

But I was most impressed that the cathedral was built in the 13th century over just 50 years in a town with a population of just 5000 people. How on earth did they build such a magnificent structure back then? Gothic style, so thin walls, flying buttresses, huge stained glass windows. To be fair, it had structural problems all of its life, part of it collapsed in the 17th century, and it did require significant renovations in the 19th century. But even so, 800 years old!

The gargoyles were doing their job in the rain

Lunch at a restaurant was a treat: beef cheek ravioli...

...followed by pistachio tiramisu. Yum!!!

We had a window table, with a view of the cathedral through the rain

The Roman history museum (Centro de Interpretación del León Romano) was worth a look, and gave some background to the Roman construction of the town and its walls. Incredible that some of the walls are still standing

Hole in the wall where orphans were passed through

León feels to me to be a bigger city than the official population of 124 000 would indicate. But it still has its share of decrepit buildings, and several people begging on the streets (in the rain)

Anything else?

We did visit another church (Royal Congregation of San Isidro of Madrid), but didn't see the Holy Grail which it 'may' contain

Did I mention the rain? Forecast is for cloudy but not rainy weather tomorrow, so should be a pleasant, dry, 20km walk