the Meseta

We are in the lovely city of Leon, in a four star hotel, enjoying two days rest and recreation before setting out on the Camino again tomorrow.  

We've just spent 7 days walking across the Meseta.  We enjoyed the first four days, pleasant walking through the gently rolling hilled landscape of lush green wheat fields.  The weather was warm and the sky clear blue. The last three days however, where very different to that.

For 60km we have walked what is known as the old Roman road, dead flat, dead straight, hot and rocky, very rocky, with rocks as large as a closed fist, making walking not only difficult but painful.  We still don't have blisters, but our feet felt battered and bruised.

Most pilgrims take an alternative route, a track which is a fraction shorter and runs adjacent to a busy, noisy main road into Leon.  We decided to take the original Camino route, although perhaps that was not the best decision.  Yesterday was our third day of walking the old Roman road and as we hobbled into the uninspiring town of Reliegos, decided not to spend the night there and instead caught a taxi for the last leg into Leon.

We of course had no accommodation booked for Leon as we arrived a day earlier than planned.  On arrival we went straight to the visitor information office for a city map whith a list of all hotels in the city centre and began phoning around in search of a room for two nights.  We began by phoning the two star hotels, however all were fully booked or 'complete' as they say in Spain. We then moved on to the three star hotels, all were 'complete'. From there it was a choice between the one star or the four star hotels.  We were tired, our feet hurt and we were desperate for a room, so the four star was the one we called. It was a good decision, and I woke up in a lovely comfy bed on Mothers' Day.  We found out later the reason for Leon being so busy this weekend, the city marathon was held this morning.

Leon is the third city on the Camino.  First was Pamplona, second Burgos, now Leon.  Pamplona, where they hold the running of the bulls, although a nice city, felt busy and bustling.  Burgos, our favourite, was full of beautiful architecture, lovely streets to walk through and the most magnificient cathederal we have ever seen.  Leon comes a close second with interesting streets and architecture as well as an amazing cathederal.

The cathederal here has 1600 square metres of stained glass which is breathtakingly beautiful.  Some windows are quite unique in that they contain panels of plants and flowers instead of religious or biblical figures.  The church also houses priceless ancient artwork and sculptures.  One I particularly admired was a 13th centuary stone statue of a very pregnant Mary, quite beautiful and unusual, as I cannot ever recall seeing her depicted in this way.  We are more than happy to pay the entry fees charged to help maintain and preserve these incridible gothic architectual wonders.  It has just taken four years to clean and restore the stained glass windows.