Ok, I have a new favorite city. Leon is truly beutiful and you can just walk and walk within the old city and continue to see more plazas, beautiful buildings, remnants of medieval and Roman buildings incorporated into newer buildings. Really not sure how they do that and would love to see the inside of some of these buildings. The highlight is definitely the cathedral.
I had a wonderful morning. I got up and out by 8, knowing that the sun would be coming up and most Spaniards do NOT get up early given that they are out late – which you can hear most nights till quite late. I caught these photos early on:
I walked all the way around the Cathedral of Leon, seeing ancient walls and then the cloister. An older woman was walking into the cloister and told me a service would be at 9am, before it officially opened. I reconfirmed I heard right and went to have a hot chocolate and croissant while I waited. Then the sun hit the cathedral as I watched and the stone shifted in color.
I went into the cloister and it was wonderful. There’s a scene in Love Actually when the guard behind Hugh Grant suddenly breaks out in a deep baritone in a carol, same thing happened here. The priest was starting the communion service and suddenly this voice came behind us and this man in a suit was just singing unaccompanied in the most beautiful, seemingly effortless voice. The acoustics were perfect. I didn’t get a picture of the church – clearly not appropriate, but I did get a photo of the entry into the chapel and of the cloister.
The cloister is right next to the cathedral. I hadn’t put it all together yesterday when we did the tour. But going through that arch at the back of the cathedral and round the cloister, then seeing through the chapel into the cathedral linked it for me. I decided to go back into the cathedral, listen to the tour again (in English!!!) and try to remember more details. I was able to get some photos without so many people and noise. Actually, just music for a bit, so nice. It’s the most beautiful church I’ve ever seen. The stained glass is just incredible. Some of the things I learned:
The Romans fell and it continued as a serfdom until things began to shift in the 11th and 12th centuries as the Christians started gaining territory and moving the Muslims out. The story of the back and forth seems just painful and the Jews had the worst time of all, the Muslims were better with them, but things would just settle and then the persecution would start again. Leon has a whole focus on the Jewish culture and history, but everything is either gone or just a ruin, so I didn’t see anything that could give me a sense of the life for the Jewish people.
From the Christian perspective, life lightened in the 12th century with gradual prosperity building, a bourgeois class developing and there was Christian euphoria to be celebrated. Simultaneously, architects realized that they could use ribbed arches and not need as massive a Roman walled structure, thus allowing for light, high ceilings, windows and stained glass. Early Gothic was clean, airy and beautiful. This cathedral was built in the second half of the 13th century, 50 years. Incredible.
The stained glass generally had vegetable/fruit/mineral in the lower levels, human allegories showing the capacity for love and hate, then the highest windows were all related to religious stories and celebrations. There are 1800 sq meters of stained glass in this cathedral. The rose window was truly spectacular, but hard to capture, I did my best.
The early gothic then started to be more elaborate and the lecture called the period of the 1400s-1500s late or florid gothic. This is the thistle gate, entrance to the pulpits with elaborate carvings and details. She said, “luckily, the cathedral was practically unaffected” by this over enthusiastic demonstration of skill.
Below is a statue from the 1200’s (?) and is particularly beloved by the people of Leon – that of a pregnant Mary.
This is in one of the chapels behind the main alter. Then a closed gate with the chapel for “his holiness”. This is the chapel that’s part of the cloister, but turns out it’s also just off the cathedral. Interesting how it unfolds. My photos is taken from through the gate keeping people in the cathedral out. This chapel was built in the 1500’s so is “florid gothic”, but the lecturer didn’t seem to think it was too florid and I thought it was wonderful. Inside it is the container for the sacraments. When he opened it this morning, I thought it must be pure silver. Turns out, yup, the most valuable piece in the whole cathedral.
Isn’t is amazing? A whole church within a church. I don’t know why I’m surprised since this has been true every time, but still amazing.
I then finally tore myself away, went back to the hotel for breakfast and then back out to walk for a few hours, just absorbing the city, finding more ancient walls, walked into 3 more services. I seem to have a knack for communion. I’m becoming fascinated by the different manners of the priests, but they all have the exact same movements for communion. It’s “Spanish Day” here today and there were a lot of people at every service. And they all sing this beautiful song to Mary at the end of every service.
Turns out Spanish Day is actually Columbus Day – or that’s what we call it. We’ve pretty much moved past thinking that’s something to celebrate, but hasn’t changed here!
Beverly and I, as we walked through the city after breakfast, asked in restaurants for reservations for lunch (2-4pm and most places booked). Eventually found a place on a smaller plaza at a Japanese restaurant. The three Texans joined and we had a wonderful meal, completely happy to be eating different foods and it was seriously good. So today – my perfect schedule. Late breakfast with eggs, juice, toast, tea and then late lunch and then that’s it. Yay! Last night was also a great meal that I got a reservation for at a Spanish restaurant that was fantastic, but didn’t leave until after 10.
Leon is so great, it’s making me think I would consider doing the Camino again if Rick wanted to do the whole thing…
Reb's Walks! 
The stained glass looks magnificent!!
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