Author: Thom

Another view of the Cathedral in León. Here you can see some of the typical features of Gothic architecture: the spires, the flying buttresses, the rose window. Most Gothic cathedrals took centuries to complete. As a result of different architects (and bishops!) over the course of that time, they can sometimes become a muddled mess. By contrast, the bulk of […]

From my journal: The Cathedral is glorious. There’s an audio tour, of course, but unlike Burgos, they haven’t turned it into a museum. The liturgies are obviously still held in the Cathedral’s nave, with every portion fulfilling its intended function. Not so large or grand as Burgos, it is nevertheless more harmonious and serene. And the windows! Light pouring through […]

Like Pamplona, León is full of the architecture of centuries, everything from Romanesque to Gothic to Baroque to Art-Deco and Art-Nouveau, all cheek-by-jowl. It’s an amazing hodge-podge. Here’s a random shop I spotted on the way to the Cathedral by way of example. Date: 19 April 2013Place: León (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: Mansilla de las Mulas […]

The old city center of León is a delightful warren of winding narrow medieval streets, with shops at street level and residences above. This is part of the route from the albergue to the Cathedral, where I was scheduled to meet up with my beautiful bride Francine. You might notice that Smöoy shop on the right. They sell the most […]

In the Benedictine monastery in León’s city center, we found this delightful phone. I’d love to know its origin, because I want to have something like this at Pistachio House. Clearly it’s not just an outside line, but also a paging system or possibly a way to call the sisters in their individual cells. Anybody know where I can get […]

In León, we checked into the Benedictine monastery in the city center. While most of the pilgrims checked into the albergue run by the Sisters, I took a room at the Hospederia Monastica Pax, a hotel also run by the Sisters and located in basically the same building. Francine was arriving in León today, and I thought she might like […]

About a kilometer before León cathedral, we passed this place which immediately reminded me of Dungeons & Dragons. For all the world, it looks like the sort of tavern where you’d find adventurers resting after a particularly exhausting dungeon crawl. Date: 19 April 2013Place: León (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: Mansilla de las Mulas (Province of León, […]

After walking a while through the narrow streets of León, we came upon this delightful lion, seemingly basking in the sun. My late cat Abiu sometimes bore this expression when sitting in a sunbeam, too. Date: 19 April 2013Place: León (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: Mansilla de las Mulas (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)

As I mentioned yesterday, León is a distracting place. In retrospect, we should have stopped in this shop and picked up the map. Instead, we blithely continued on our way and got completely lost. Date: 19 April 2013Place: León (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)Today started: Mansilla de las Mulas (Province of León, Castilla y León, Spain)