Day 25. Rest day in Leon

A picture of the wonderful floorboards in our very old hotel, El Posado Regia. My feet are itching to walk but they should not today. TMI I know.

Cathedral was beautiful as was the Basilica. Cultural overload continues and back to the walk in the morning. The bakeries here, called panderias, have great things and have cafe solo (small, strong shot of espresso) and whatever else you want to drink. Really quite civilized.

Still can't adjust to the siesta part of the culture. In small towns, everything closes but the bars and restaurants which do a booming business with the locals. Each town has different hours and even each business seems a bit different and close about 1:30 or 2:00 for 3 hours. Big stores in the cities don't close but the small ones do. I always thought of siesta as heat-related, and the highs right now are only around 15 C. Haven't seen anyone sleeping under their sombrero unlike the old westerns depicting Mexico.

Over to Lynn....
Leon, like Burgos, is a gorgeous city; lovely, narrow, medieval streets; balconies spilling over with a profusion of red and pink begonias. It is the thing that stands out most in my mind along this entire camino. No matter how humble the homes & run-down the village, there are flowers in most window sills.

The late 13th century cathedral is absolutely gorgeous. It's renowned for it's 115 stained glass windows, showering the church in light. Most churches in this country are designed to shut out light so this is a very striking exception.

We are sitting in a restaurant looking out on to one of the many squares, having a pre-dinner wine and sampling the free tapas always served when you order a drink or a coffee. One of the tapas that is served quite frequently is called a tortilla but is nothing like the familiar Mexican tortilla. It's very much like a firm scalloped potato dish cut into small squares and served cold, speared with a toothpick. Very good.