El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 17: Mansillas de las Mulas to Leon

Michelle wrote:
23 Sept. Saturday

The morning selfie at Hotel Rural Los Soportales

We left Mansilla de las Mulas at 8:30 am and were feeling rushed to get to Leon before the 2 pm siesta.  It felt like a long 18 km.  The dirt path was good, just small pebbles and it wasn’t too hot most of the way.  It was just hard to endure, knowing we were almost there. We walked through the suburbs of Leon next to a busy road.  Then we finally made it into the city!  We walked through what is left of the old wall, Puerta Moneda, and found our hotel, Monastica Pax, which is next to a big albergue run by nuns.  Our hotel was nice and looked out onto a plaza in the old part of town. We found out that sleeping next to a plaza on a Saturday night is not a good idea.  It was too noisy!  The people like to drink and talk and have fun outside in the evenings.  After checking into our room, we left to find the nearest El Corte Ingles because they have an optical department and I needed to get my glasses fixed.  It wasn’t too far, about 10 minutes, and the woman replaced the nose cushion a gave me an extra one and she wouldn’t let me pay her for it.   She was very kind and wished us a buen camino.  It doesn’t hurt to wear them anymore.  We walked up to the cathedral, which is huge and beautiful and magnificent, but we were too late to go inside.  They closed just as we got there.  We looked in the souvenir shops and then ran into our friend Cathy from Seattle!  She and Mariana were meeting their Canadian friend for dinner.  While we were talking to them on the plaza, we noticed people dressed up in very beautiful fancy clothes gathering in front of the gate to the cathedral.. Right before 7 pm a nice black car drove up and a bride got out of the car.  She had a beautiful dress with a very long veil/train that had beautiful lace on it.  She went into the cathedral and we heard the organ play the Lohengrin Bridal March for a minute before they shut the big doors.  The organ sounded awesome!  I would love to have been inside to hear it or to attend an organ concert in the cathedral.  It was fun to watch the the wedding guests in their fancy clothes and to see the bride arrive.  I can’t imagine how much money that wedding cost.  You have to be SOMEONE to be able to get married in the Leon cathedral!

Cathy, Mariana, the Canadian, Curtis and I all walked to El Corte Ingles to eat dinner in their restaurant on the 6th floor.  We all walk at different speeds and distances, so this may be the last time we see each other.  It was a fun dinner.

Curtis writes:

As beautiful as the country side is, we miss some of the conveniences that are only found in larger communities.  We were excited to get to Leon.

One of the benefits of putting one foot in front of the other all the way across Spain is the opportunity to see in detail the changes in the agriculture according to the terrain.  Approaching Mansillas de las Mulas we came across corn fields.  I don't remember seeing any other corn fields on our walk from the Pyrenees.  The corn field and hay field in the picture below reminds me of the morning walking out of Hontanas that we came across an alphalpha field with sprinklers, the first we had seen since leaving Utah.

Corn fields between Mansillas de las Mulas and Leon

East end of Puente Villarente over the Rio Porma

In terms of the mountain west, the Rio Porma is a substantial river.  From the perspective of Georgia, it's not that big.  But the size of the bridge gives an indication of what it can be - or what it once was before the drought and before the upstream damns were put in place.

Puente Villarente

From Villarente we have a few more kilometers of walking through fields before we pass through Arcahueja and then the road is lined with industrial buildings approaching Leon.

Map on the wall in Arcahueja
Is the scale accurate?

The hills on the east side of Leon block the view of the city until you get to this point in the  pass between the hills.

Our first view of Leon

The photo above is taken from the ramp coming down for the overpass crossing N-601 entering Leon.

First view of Leon that includes the Cathedral.  Can you find it?

At the base of the hills, on the east side of Leon, runs the Río Torío.  So... yes, I had to take a picture of the bridge.

Bridge over the Río Torío

Modern Leon

Puerta Moneda, the gate through the old wall nearest our hotel.

We stayed in a really nice hotel in Leon, Hospedería Monástica Pax, in a restored monastery.  Our window opened to plaza Santa María del Camino.  This turned out to be an unfortunate location because people were partying in the plaza into the early hours of the morning.  That made for a rough nights sleep.

Sweetness in Corte Ingles

We had rushed to get to Leon before 2pm when the shops closed for the weekend. We needed to get a nose pad for Michelle's glasses. We found a nice Optical Shop in Corte Ingles. They were able to fit a different pad on the glasses but they did not have the exact brand so they could not make an exact fit. It will have to do for the next 8 days. 

At Corte Ingles

After taking care of the glasses we enjoyed a treat at Corte Ingles.  This had been a stressful day caused by not knowing for sure where we would find an optical shop, pushing ourselves to get to the shop before they closed for the weekend and all of this on top of painful feet.  Constant pain does things to your brain.

An orange Fanta and an Eclair - hit the spot for me.

Catedral de Leon

We did not make it in time to see the cathedral on the inside. But there was a big fancy wedding at the cathedral and we got to see many of the guests and the bride as they entered. We even heard the opening chords of the Lohengrin march traditionally played at weddings, from the apparently magnificent organ before they closed the cathedral doors. In the attached picture, if you look close, you might notice to Michelle in the teal blue standing in front of the cathedral.

Michelle walking towards Puerta Moneda, outside the old city wall 

The Casa Botines (built 1891-1892) designed by Antoni Gaudí.

This was created by Gaudí while he was still thinking in terms that I can relate with.  His later, more famous work, the cathedral La Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona is something I cannot relate with.  Over the entrance to this building you can see St. George killing the dragon.  By the next time we get to Leon, this will be a museum.

We have a hard day tomorrow. Church is at 10:30 and then we need to walk 21.1km to our next place. Like the Pioneers, we will also have to do our laundry tomorrow before church.