Bus to Leon

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Set off bright and early, though it was very overcast and cold in Santiago, on the 6 hour bus journey southeast to Leon. The route largely follows the Camino, though for awhile we veered off to the towns of A Coruna and Lugo. Had a prime viewing seat, too - right behind the driver. For better or worse, sometimes it's nice not knowing what the driver does, or doesn't do, I loved seeing the scenery change.

In Galicia, like I said, it's like Seattle, with lush mountains and lots of rain. This lasted until about the mountain-top town of O Cebriero - which really is like a little hobbit village, with tiny houses, and for some reason really small locals hobbling around. Time does not seem to exist here. From this town you leave the mountains behind, and wind down through a valley to the hotter plains below. This is where Leon is, on more of an arid plain. Today, in Leon, it was actually the hottest I've felt so far in Spain, probably being around 90 degrees or so.

I'm sure most people are probably thinking that all I do is go around from church to church. That's actually very true - but there's a reason. The history of Europe, I think, is largely written in its grand cathedrals. I also think that pretty much everything else has changed, the houses and the people surrounding them have all vanished, but there they are, the cathedrals, though a bit changed here and there, still stand. They've observed history and are truly part and parcel of it. The cathedrals are history embodied. And, in such a hardcore Roman Catholic country like Spain, there's really just no escaping them.

Leon, too, has one of the best, mainly because it's so unique. It's not big per se, but has the best stained glass outside Chartres in France (which I'll visit in 3 weeks or so). And what's also cool about this church is how inventive the architects were when they designed the glass. How the light hits the church tells the Christian narrative. Giant Christ glass is right over the altar, which always faces East, towards Jerusalem. So, in the morning, Christ is literally reborn and sheds his light into the church. Then, as the day proceeds, Old and New Testament glass lights up along the nave, revealing the history that ultimately leads to a giant Rose Window featuring Mary, where the sun goes down. It's brilliant, a story told in light. I don't care what people say, the Dark Ages were truly anything but dark.

Tomorrow I see a few more sights here in Leon before hopping another bus a couple of hours farther east, right along the Camino, to Burgos.

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Photos

Leon Cathedral
Smaller church. Finally a Gothic one too. All about height and light. So you have pointed arches and buttresses to take the weight off the walls. Can put in glass now.

Rose Window Close-Up
Church is dedicated to Mary. Can only put in such a big window because of buttresses on the side. Big deal back then.

Center Door Carvings
Called the tympanum. Right above Mary there's a Last Judgment scene, with Michael weighing souls. Those on the right are saved, the left sent to hell.

Sent to Hell
Michael is on the very left. And here are the demons that meet the damned.

Brilliant Ordering
The windows closest to the floor feature the natural world. Those at the top are Biblical. The windows go from the ground up, literally.

Natural World Window
Right near the floor. Shows plant life and humans in the little designs above.

Brighter New Testament Windows
At the top, heavenward. Lighter and brighter because the New Testament is about Christ.

Darker Old Testament Windows
Still at the top, but darker colors, because the Old Testament only prefigures Christ.

Christ Windows Above Altar
Light up in the morning, when the rising sun also gives birth again to Christ.

Gothic Height
Slender columns compared to those heavy, thick Romanesque ones before.

Another Pieta
Another sad Mary holding Christ after he's taken down from the Cross.

Cloister View
Good view of the buttresses that make a Gothic church possible.

Creaky Wooden Steps
Have a great hotel. These are the windy wooden steps that are slanted and seem like they're going to slide right off the wall.