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| Parador Hotel Museum Cloister - León |
Breakfast Actually
The Spanish are not known for their love of breakfast. It usually is skipped altogether but when eaten it is typically just toast and a coffee with milk. In their defense, when you eat dinner at 10:30pm at night you aren't likely to be too hungry the next morning. After 9 days of starting my day with toast and coffee of varying quality I intended to enjoy a long and leisurely breakfast at my hotel. The coffee was quite good. The bountiful choices including the rarely served scrambled eggs was scrumptious. The fact that I could enjoy these while lingering as long as I wished was also just what I needed.
After enjoying my fill until I was satiated I returned to my room for another relaxing soak in the tub before I struck out to explore the culturally and gastronomically rich town of León.
Museo de Parador de León
My first destination was only steps away as my hotel had an extraordinary museum containing medieval artifacts from the city and the hotel itself which had quite the history itself. It dates from the 12th century, is one of the most important monuments of the Renaissance in Spain and has a storied history.
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| Parador Museum Cloister |
Originally built as a Pilgrim Hospice in 1152 next to the then brand new bridge over the Rio Bernesga it served as a primitive accommodation. It fell into disrepair in the 15th century when King Fernando decided to impress by commissioning the most lavish Pilgrim accommodation on the Camino. It was where Pilgrims of means stayed. Ultimately that is, it took 200 years to complete.
It's next purpose was a more traditional monastery which it was until 1837. It then became a high school, Jesuit residence, a veterinary college (Main Boulevard leading to it still is called Boulevard Veterinary), hospital, cavalry barracks and a military warehouse. It's most macabre use arguably was that of a brutal concentration camp under the Franco dictatorship. The Spanish government transformed it into the super luxurious hotel and museum it is today.
A Que Hora esta Siesta? (What Time is Siesta?)
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| Plaza de San Isidoro in León |
The first rule of a rest day in Spain is not to try to do too much. I intended to honor that rule. OK since anything of cultural significance was closed until 4pm this rule was enforced. Oh well, when in Spain... I made do with wine and pinxtos (tapas) with spectacular views of places like San Isidoro. You would be absolutely amazed at all of the Spanish history within view. Don't let this picture fool you. Everybody was out enjoying Siesta. I happened to take it at the end.
The Cathedral
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| The Cathedral of León |
Arriving here was certainly soul stirring. I made a point to spend some time in front taking in this impressive Gothic León Cathedral before I toured the inside. It was even more impressive when one considers the population of the city when it was commissioned. A small town built one of the most important cathedrals in the world at its time. I savored it slowly taking about 2.5 hours to visit the cathedral and museum.
San Isidoro
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| Cloisters of Basilica de San Isidoro |
The church, pantheon, museum and burial vault of the Kings of León made this the cornerstone of medieval history for all of Castilla and León and arguably all of Spain. Here I saw and touched the tombs of 23 kings, 12 princes and 9 counts. I also saw fragments of the True Cross, an ivory casket from 1059, a chalice from the 11th century and the original Codex Legio-nensis Bible which was finished in 960.
A Five Course Feast for "Día de Reyes" (literally "Kings' Day")
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| Sculpture outside the Cathedral of León |
To cap a wonderful day of exploring I decided to partake in a special menu at my hotel to celebrate Epiphany which commemorates the arrival of the three Magi or Wise Men. This is a very important holiday in Spain and is typically when children open their presents. The meal itself was an awesome feat of gastronomy and of course it had a phenomenal wine pairing to accompany it. I savored every bite of every course.
I went to bed that evening well-rested and ready to continue my Camino de Santiago.
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