Visiting Leon.

Leon seems to be having a Roman/Medieval fair. There are market stalls, gladiators and food booths all around the main square. It is all very exciting if strangely busy after the quietness of the meseta!

These birds were just sitting so quietly on their perches, I was torn between wanting them to be flying free and feeling privileged to see them all close up. It was particularly interesting to see the Griffin Vulture up close as they have been circling above our heads for the past week or so as we have been walking.

One of the huge barbeques cooking pork products of course!

A variety of teas to cure any ailment you can think of!

We visited Leon Cathedral - it has so many stained glass windows the whole building feels so light and airy. The skill of the designers and builders is amazing.

Casa de Botines. The first Gaudi building to be funded privately and not by the church!

We visited the fish and meat market which was fascinating. They truly eat EVERYTHING that comes from the pig - I couldn't bring myself to photo all the stalls though!

So we were trying to find a geocache that was hidden near this building.
We weren't sure what was in the building but we got a bit near the entrance and the man inside invited us in saying 'It's free'!
We were led into a darkened room where we had to sit and watch a 15 minute video all about the history of the building - in Spanish! We were then invited to go round the exhibition which was mostly made up from lots of displays written in Spanish.
We still don't know what the building was but we were able to get this excellent photo!

Leon's Parador. Originally a hostel for pilgrims but now a five star hotel.
We had a look around inside, it has an interesting history. It has been a convent, a stud farm for horses and a concentration camp during the Spanish civil war

We had afternoon tea!

Seen in the square outside the parador.

We found an English bar called Chelsea - it even had a signed photo of Paul Weller and Morrisey on the wall!
We had a fun evening with Scott and Steve who finished their walk in Leon and Pat who is now moving on with a different schedule from us - hopefully we will catch up with him sometime before we reach Santiago!