Day: April 9, 2025

Leon to Benavente

Over the last nine years Duke and I have stayed at 92 of the Paradors in Spain. There are currently 99 Paradores and 97 of those are currently open. Tonight we are at the Parador of Benavente, our 93rd Parador.

This morning before leaving Léon we walked all over the historic center.

Before we started on our exploration Duke took a picture of Jo Ann, Brian and me on our room’s balcony.
We walked by the Roman wall
The Gaudi Museum in Léon is in a Gaudi designed building, Casa Botines. It was closed this morning so we couldn’t go in.
We had coffee and tea waiting for the cathedral to open
While we were having our drinks we saw this interesting dog.

Léon Cathedral is one of my favorite cathedrals in the world. I think the open feeling and the stunning stained glass is what make it so special. They provided an excellent downloadable audio guide. The Cathedral was built in the 1300’s when Léons population was only about 4,000.

Leon Cathedral
Inside Léon cathedral

We explored some more on our way back to the Parador.

The Plaza Mayor was being rehabilitated
Plaza de Grano
I love this statue of a Léon lion coming out of a manhole

Once we finished our walk we drove about an hour to the Parador of Benavente where we are tonight. We had our welcome drinks and played cards.

Playing cards in the tower bar of the Parador,
Benavente Plaza Mayor
Restaurante Mesón El Pícaro for dinner
Our anchovy and sardine salad

Parador de Fuente Dé to Leon

This morning we took the funicular up to the top of the mountain behind the Parador.

Nearing the top
At the top of the funicular

We got back down to the Parador in time for our noon check out time. Then we drove through the mountains down to the plains, with lots of interesting stops along the way.

Packing up to leave. You can see the funicular in the background

Not far down the road there was a bit of traffic. On the whole though, there was very little traffic and it was a beautiful day.

We carefully passed these sheep and lambs
More traffic

We stopped at some great viewpoints.

Near the top of San Gloria Pass
Picnic lunch overlooking Riaño Reservoir

At the picnic spot there was an information board that mentioned the nearby viewpoint with the largest swing in Spain, so we decided to hike up to it. We hiked back to the car, left the mountains and drove down onto the plains to Léon.

Jo Ann testing the swing
We are staying at the wonderful Parador of Léon
Our room overlooks the front plaza

We have eaten a lot of Parador dinners on this trip. So, since we are in a city tonight I was looking forward to a local restaurant dinner. We went looking for a restaurant at 8:00 but couldn’t find one open. At Restaurante Casa Rafa, the original restaurant we had in mind they said that the kitchen opens at 8:45. So we sat on a park bench and people watched until it opened. We ended up having a great meal and the owner was very friendly and helpful. When we suggested the calamari appetizer he said the shrimp is better. So we had that and it was fantastic. He suggested the goat main course and Brian had that.

Sardine appetizer. Yummy and not salty at all.
Shrimp appetizer
Brian’s roasted goat
Strawberry mouse and ice cream desert.
The restaurant felt very local.