Tag: Leon

Tordesillas to Leon

Today we drove about 100 miles north from the Parador of Tordesillas to the Parador of Leon. Duke and I stayed in the Leon Parador back in 2016. Since then the Parador was closed for a few years while they totally renovated it.

The Parador of Leon today
The grand staircase in 2016
The grand staircase today

This afternoon we had our welcome drinks and played cards in the central Atrium

The bar in the central atrium

Later we walked about a mile to the center of Leon to see the cathedral. It didn’t open until 4 and we got there about 3:30. So we had drinks in the restaurant across from the Cathedral.

Waiting for the cathedral to open.

The stained glass windows make the Leon Cathedral one of my favorites in Spain.

Leon Cathedral
One of the stained glass windows in the Leon Cathedral.
More windows

We had one of the best meals of the trip in the Parador restaurant tonight.

My fish was steamed with vegetables in a cellophane like package. Here the waitress is opening it.
The fish was moist and delicious
The desert was a pyramid of white chocolate yogurt and raspberry ice cream was divine too.

After dinner we went outside to get some night time pictures.

The Parador of Leon.

Leon to Villafranca del Bierzo

Today was cool, rainy and very windy. So It was not a great day for being outside. We took the mountainous scenic route from Leon to Villafranca del Bierzo. But first we found some coffee and pastries in Leon.

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Then we took a walk in Leon along the river to the Convent of San Marcos and back to our hotel.

We also bought some bread and cheese for lunch. The cheese vendor gave us samples and offered us wine from a bota bag to go with our samples! We bought some cheese but passed on the wine.

As I said the road through the mountains was beautiful and scenic.

In Villafranca del Bierzo we walked around a bit and discovered that we are on the Camino de Santiago.

We also discover a lovely quilt shop.

And a castle ruin.

Madrid to León

This morning we saw Butch and Myra off for home, did laundry, and picked up a new rental car. Coincidentally it is the same car which we had for the last ten days but it has been washed and we didn’t have to pay for parking in Madrid.

Around 1:30 we headed out of Madrid northwest towards León. We stopped for groceries about half way through the drive. Spanish grocery store fish departments are always interesting.

We arrived in Leon in time to visit the cathedral. I think it has the most beautiful stained glass in Spain.

For dinner we ate tapas in three different spots and then walked back to our hotel which is located on the Plaza Mayor.