Spain 28 - Leon - a royal pantheon, cathedral stained glass and fleas for dinner

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Hola , Buenos Dios - we know we are in Spain. We are greeted with two Hellos and soil that resembles mustard in parts, rust in others and all shades in between. A real kaleidoscope of colour unlike anything you seem to see anywhere else in Northern Europe. The weather sadly has deserted us. Last week the temperature was up the high 20’s and low 30’s . This week nothing but rain. It pours down overnight and continues off and on through the day. Rain before 7 gone before 11 does not ring true at the moment. It is cold too. This must be the coldest September we have ever had on a holiday. The forecast remains poor tomorrow and until Thursday when a bit of sun might burst through. Sadly it spoils sightseeing knowing that you are going to have to keep diving into places to avoid getting too wet. Photographs too are spoilt without a bit of sun on them.

We have been driving alongside the Via Carmino which runs itself alongside one of the old pilgrim roads to Santiago. Along the way we have seen pilgrims with back packs, sturdy staffs, good walking shoes and scallop shells. There seem not so many as last time we came this way. Perhaps it is the time of year although it would be fair for walking in September usually with the worse of the heat gone. The trees lining the route are still immature. Oh to come back in 50 years and see them matured. Some pilgrims walk alone. Their company just their own thoughts. Others walk in twos or threes. Some walk in groups. All walking between the local towns, villages, churches, shrines or cities along the way. They must be a hardy bunch. Much as I love walking I doubt I would be fit enough to cover at least 12 miles a day. Day in , day out until I reached my goal.

So to our campsite . The only one anywhere near to Laon. There are a few parking spots on a sosta in the city but we thought they might be full and we didn’t fancy being right in the heart of the city. This site boasted a bus service so it fitted the bill perfectly. We arrived and first thoughts where was the camp? There was a sign. We were in the middle of a half built housing estate long abandoned due to the economic downturn. Houses just sad shells. We found a little dirt track and followed it. We arrived at a shut reception. Eventually I found the bar and inside Jose who welcomed me. He showed me the small shop, explained that he had free WiFi, a restaurant where we could have breakfast or dinner and it would cost 19 euro without electricity and 23 with. We picked our plot under the trees and set about washing . A small washing machine 4 euros hidden behind a rather pleasant swimming pool. Sadly it was too cold to try it out whilst the washing washed. The only bus during the day left the top of the road at 9.15 and came back at 22.15 or thereabouts but the campsite offered a taxi service for 2 euros each leaving at a reasonable 11.00 and returned 5.30 to 6pm. Showers were Ok a bit jaded but serviceable . I realised what a small world we lived in when I spoke to one of the British campers. I detected a welsh accent and it turned out her husband came from the Lleyn Peninsular and she was born in slate country Blaenau Ffestiniog. It turned out she lived now in a village half a mile from where I was born in Wrexham. We chewed the fat and I felt that sense of hiraeth. A welsh word that has no English translation. A sense of sadness for my land of my birth.

At 11 we were taken by car to Leon. A pretty city not too big that you get lost in it and not to small to be boring. Our first stop a Santander (an almost British bank) where we were told to try our Caxton card. If it didn’t work we could change the PIN in the machine . Luckily it worked and spewed out money. Our next stop was on for coffee as it was feeling rather nippy and we had no coats. The Playa Major has the usual tat shops full of pilgrim mementoes – scallop shells, pilgrim badges, plates with pictures of the cathedral and fridge magnets. Now our mission should we wish to accept it is to get a fridge magnet everywhere we go. Sad but they serve to remind us every day of where we have been and each holds a special memory for us. We found one and headed off for one of the may café/bars in the square. Espressos and Tortilla Patata were the order of the day. The tortilla was too big so ordered just one between us. 3 euros 80. This must be the cheapest espresso we have ever purchased at 80 cents a cup. Breakfast for two of us under 4 euros and I even got shouted out for helping the waitress clear the tables.

After our coffee and breakfast we walked across the square to the cathedral which was pretty impressive and the jewel in its crown are its medieval stained glass windows. It is known as the Pulchra Leonina and is typically Gothic style of the 13^th century. It has two towers, one a clock tower with an interesting old and rather dilapidated clock face on it . Alongside the portico are statues of saints. Some of which are badly eroded by the weather on the soft stone. The doorway is wooden rather than the bronze that you see in Italy. Inside there are almost 1800 square metres of 13^th to 15^th century stained glass . Inside the building soared to the roof with glass everywhere and luckily for us the gloom and the lack of outside sun made the windows even more beautiful . Red glass , blue glass colours you wouldn’t imagine could be so vibrant in glass. Round rose windows full of stunning shapes and patterns . They have to be the finest glass we have ever seen in any cathedral and we have seen a few. There is a museum but we did not visit this one. The cathedral is one of three most famous on the Camino and what made it even more wonderful for us as that it had not been overly Baroqued. Just a few side chapels and some other decoration but largely this remained a simple but beautiful Gothic building . This is what holidays are all about . We like Leon .

Jose had told us we must not miss the windows but the best bit of Laon was the Museo San Isadora de Leon . If we were to see one place it should be this. We found the museo next to the small church of the same name and the walls that enclosed the city. Not huge walls but enough to get an idea what Leon must have looked like when it was fully enclosed. Entry into the small church was free. It was pretty nondescript apart from a highly ornate reredos. I wanted to light a candle there to remember those of our family no longer with us but there were none to light. Perhaps our next church will oblige.

Then onto the museo – now that was a different kettle of fish. 5 euros each to enter with no discount this time for seniors. I was given the ticket and sadly read the words La direction no permit la toma de fotografias and my heart sank. I knew that there was a lot I would want to photograph and would not be allowed to . So bear with me I shall have to try to describe what we saw.

Queen Sancha chose the new monastery as the site of the royal burial chapel and this was what we were going to see . Today eleven kings, numerous queens and many nobles lie interred beneath the vaults of the royal pantheon. In 1063 the relics of Saint Isidore were transferred to the chapel. We were escorted from room to room so no chance of even a sneaky photograph. Our tickets were checked and we counted in. So come with me into room number one. In your minds eye think of a treasure house full of beautiful golden things. These are like of which you have never seen before and may never see again. The treasures of a dark age long gone where craftsmen were craftsmen and money was no object. Inside the first case a gold and silver gilt casket with scenes engraved of Paradise . Made in 1063 to house the remains of St Isadore . The inside of the box was lined with Andulusian cloth. Just think this was made 3 years before William the Conqueror set foot on English soil. The cloth still coloured as if it were produced yesterday. Next to it a wooden box dated from 1059 made for Fernando and Queen Sancha with exquisite ivory panels on every inch. The third case holds an enamel box of copper and cobalt blue made in Limoges in the 12^th century. Beyond that the earliest known Viking object in a Spanish museum. A reindeer antler carved in minute detail. The treasures go on and on. A renaissance 16^th century cross in its own display case. Walk out of this room into the next treasure house . This time a glass case holding one item. A gold jewel encrusted chalice said to be decorated in 1063 with fine precious stones and roman agate . We are told to believe that this is the Holy Grail which Christ used at the Last Supper . On to the library . Do you like books? Well you cannot fail to like these books and manuscripts. Huge weighty tomes with thick grey pages . Some opened to show written plainsong. Others highly illuminated and colourful. Each one a masterpiece of early medieval art and calligraphy. A Visigoth Mozarabic Bible a most precious object. We have seen only one library that this one comes close to match and that one is in Siena cathedral in Italy.

From here walk through the cloisters the only place photography is allowed. Not the most elegant of cloisters but this is where the first European parliament was held and all along the walls are gravestones from the 16^th century and even roman gravemarkers and objects. Pride of place in a corner is the copper and gold rooster. Once it adorned the church. Brought from Persia it was looted sometime in the 7^th century. Finally the Pantheon known as the Sistine Chapel of the Romanesque. The walls , the ceilings , the columns are all painted with frescoes as bright as they day they painted . We have seen the Sistine Chapel and this is far more interesting. In the chapel are the royal tombs. Not royal tombs all ornate but each one simple. A simple sarcophagus with no name and not a trace of decoration. It was as if the dead wanted to remain pious and simple in their choice of coffin. No finery apart from the ceilings and what ceilings they are.

We came away enthralled and pleased we had taken the time to brave the cold and the wet and visit the city. The rain poured down and we sought a quiet back street café . The sort the locals frequent Most were full of men. Not a woman in sight but we bit the bullet and went in one to get out of the rain which by now was coming down by the bucketload . We didn’t expect this in Spain!!!

Dinner . It started with two espressos and two bowls of tapas. The first tapas I chose was one bowl with potatoes in an unidentifiable sauce. I thought we could share it and then added to it half a jacket potato with a chilli topping. Cheap and cheerful altogether they cost less than 4 euros . I felt embarrassed when I realised I had offered a 50 euro note. We ate the potatoes in sauce first and it had a slightly fishy taste to it. There were things in it – I say things as I have little idea what they were but their texture was fishy. We googled them as we though they might be squid or octopus. Translation – fleas. Well they certainly were not fleas. They were tasty enough and the potatoes tasty too. Finished off with another cup of café con leche which came along with a warm cake similar to Genoa which we shared . Well fed and watered we headed for the parador which we had been told had a fantastic façade and a good museum . The façade was indeed interesting covered in scallop shells. It looked expensive and was expensive . The museum sadly was shut until 5pm . Cannot understand these funny spanish opening hours .

Our final stop a Gaudi palace in the heart of the city. Not like any Gaudi you can imagine. The Casa de los Botines was built in a Modernist style between 1892-1893. 1892 the year my grandmother and the year Glenns grandfather – two cousins were born. The building is medieval in feel with neo –Gothic characteristics. It has an inclined roof and statues of George killing the dragon on the doorway. We are not fond of Gaudi architecture but this was completely different and looked perfectly in keeping with all the other buildings on the square it stood.

We had arranged for our taxi to pick us up at 4 but by 3 we were feeling wet, tired and chilled through to the bone. We found the railway station. Railways = taxis . We caught one home. 12 euros and worth every cent to get back into the warmth of Suzy.

Perhaps tomorrow the rain will stop.

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