leaving León

 Saturday arrived. It's market day in the Plaza Mayor. We have blue skies and sun again! It's very chilly - low 50s but we'll take it with the sun❣️We said goodbye to Claus & Evi who picked up a rental car to visit Segovia and Salamanca over the next several days. We found a Taberna for lunch and had a fabulous arroz meloso with duck and mushrooms. It was hearty and came steaming in a VAT 😅 of stone. Phil also had pulpo gallega one more time. León is not quite Galicia but we are quite close being this far north.

Our train from León to Chamartín station was quiet and only slightly delayed. We had to take a train between the two stations - it is called Cercanias (commuter train) so we found our way there with help from a nice employee and arrived in time for our train from Atocha to Santa Justa and then home to Calle Bilbao! We spent the vast majority of the day on trains - more than 6 hours but it was not stressful travel so we got home and unpacked - despite it being nearly 1 AM. And had a good night's sleep for the first time since we left home. Everyone sleeps better in their own beds with their own pillows etc... LOL

Stay tuned for more fun and games as we have our final dinner of the school term with Becky and Sue and Mary from Lincoln Avenue arrives Wednesday for a full tour of Sevilla, Caceres, and Merida, along with a trip to Cordoba to see the Mosque-Cathedral!

León visit continues

 Across the cobbled street that runs along the old city wall we found a gem of a restaurant (well, Michelin helped 🤣) A creative menu of traditional fare and nice wine selections. Excellent service. Menu items marked.

Friday arrived and so did the rain... so we had a relaxes morning and started with coffee at a shop nearby and then went to lunch at a local taberna.  We had the menu del Dia - with mixed salad, then roast goat and then PHil had a custard dessert (nata.) C&E joined for the salads, alone. We went off for a walk on wet streets but the rain had stopped. So we took advantage of the chilly but dry weather. 

I went to the Casa Botines, an early Gaudi commission which was very interesting. Showing signs of what would come to fruition in Casa Batlló in Barcelona. Some really. brilliant engineering to create the light and airy space on this building which pays homage to both the Cathedral here in León and St George the dragon slayer. Claus, Evi, and Phil went on to other sites while I took my time in the exhibits  of Casa Botines. They went for afternoon coffee and I strolled home along streets (many marked with the bronze footprints 👣 of the Camino de Santiago.) Our friends leave tomorrow morning and we leave tomorrow afternoon. So great getting to spend time together.

Some of the apartments were occupied until 1994! And one side of the building on one floor has been restored to show the daily life at different times between 1893 and 1994... several businesses had homes on the lower two levels over the century before the building became a museum.

I went back to the hotel for a nap and the other three returned shortly after- we decided to meet for a drink before what turned out to be a mediocre dinner with extremely poor service - oh well - can't win them all. Took some photos on the way back to the hotel. 

 

by the following morning this plaza will be full of market goers and also sunny and cold but our hotel looks like "no one is home" on this rainy afternoon. 

A photo Evi took of us for their son Conrad - in the pub where we had drinks!

The restaurant had one redeeming feature - it was just across the plaza form our hotel so the walk home was very short!

We arranged to meet for breakfast and good byes in the morning.