Leon Exploring

We took our time this morning in getting up and about. I asked the lady that manages this hotel to call me a taxi which she promptly did. I think she knew the guy on the other end and it sounded like he was trying to get out of working today but she got him straightened out and he picked us up a few minutes later. When he asked us where we wanted to go I told him a couple of times that we wanted to go to La Cathedral. For some reason he didn’t understand so I whipped out my handy dandy translator app on my phone. After typing it in and hitting translate, the ladies voice said exactly what I had been saying and the light bulb went on over his head and we were off and running. I guess my Tex-Mex sounds like a different language over here.

We made it downtown in record time. Louie, our driver, ran stop lights, weaved in and out of traffic, made three lanes out of two and whizzed around the roundabouts without fear. The same cannot be said for his two passengers. I think Louie might have been a race car driver in a prior life. We really did not want to be with him to witness what he would be in the next one so were glad when he let us out downtown.

This was Saturday so in addition to all of the tourists like us, all of the locals were also out on this beautiful sunny day. The downtown area is full of historical buildings that house tons of shops and the cafes/bars are everywhere. Spaniards love being outdoors it seems and you see entire families out and about visiting, shopping and enjoying themselves. Every town and city have multiple town plazas which are the center of social life. I can't help but believe that as we Americans moved our shopping from small towns and city squares to outlying malls and super stores that we lost something along the way.

Finding the Cathedral was easy since it is so big and imposing.

We purchased tickets and went inside. It was amazing. The cathedral in Burgos was much more ornate but what makes the one in Leon so famous is the architecture. 

Previously large structures like cathedrals relied on heavy thick walls that were buttressed with perpendicular walls to handle the load of the heavy roofs. They had almost no windows because it would weaken the structure. 

The Leon Cathedral is built much different. It has stone arches that carry the loads and the spaces inside of the arches are filled with much lighter material. This allowed huge windows  to be installed and very few limits on design. 

It is considered a master piece of the Gothic style of the 13th century. It is known as The House of Light due to almost 1800 square meters of stained glass windows.

The majority of them date between the 13th and 15th century and were a rarity among medieval Gothic churches. I have to say the stained glass creates an atmosphere all it’s own.

The craftsmanship and artistry never ceases to amaze me. Every carving, sculpture and window is extremely detailed and as close to perfection as the artist could get. I think the craftsmen had the verse Colossians 3:23 in their minds and hearts while they worked:

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,"

The front of the cathedral is undergoing some restoration work but it is impressive none the less. It is good to see that they are active in caring for their architectural treasures so future generations can enjoy them. 

After touring the cathedral we did some exploring in the downtown area. There are a couple of other smaller churches in the area as well as a hospital housed in a historical building that looks like it is still active today. Of course we had to take a couple of “touristy” pictures too and we couldn’t resist a gelato cone while wandering around.

After getting our fill of the crowds, we hailed a taxi and made it back to our hotel. Luckily this driver was happy just being a polite and safe taxi driver and there was no indication of a death wish about him at all. When it comes to foreign taxi drivers, boring is a very good thing.

After getting back to our hotel we found a cute little place that fed us pizza and coca colas so we are ready to bed down for the night. Tomorrow we hit the Camino walking again. See you down the trail. Until then Buen Camino!