Walking from Villarente to Leon made for a short day. Only 12k. Child's play! It was a Patron Saint Day, so Leon was filled with local dancers from the region, and there were festivals throughout the city. It finally rained when I arrived. I felt like feeling rich so I splurged for a ten euro room that included free laundry, late curfew, and late check out. Normally it is three to four euros to wash, curfew is ten or ten thirty, and check out is eight. Well worth the cost!
I began eating at ten am and did not stop until eleven pm. I met Odei, Jose, and Alejandrina. Spanish speakers are good friends to have, because they ask the locals for recommendations. The cathedral may have been better than the one in Burgos. I am a sucker for stained glass. The audioguide included the cathedral's architectural history which interested me. Outside there was a man slicing fresh cecina. We ate so many samples! Odei from San Sebastian and Jose from Sevilla said it was the best they have had in their lives. It is similar to jamon iberico but from cows. Genius.
We ate tapas in the Barrio Humedo which included pizza, hamburgers, morcilla (blood sausage), chips, nuts, olives, and tortilla. Then we found a cake typical of Leon. It was a feast day. Jose stopped a news reporter to tell her we were all friends from England, USA, Japan, Ireland, Spain, and Chile that met on the Camino. It aired on channel eight at four! We ended at a place with gigantic tapas - cecina and fried eggs and chips and bacon. It was nice to be out late enough to be with real Spanish people. We watched a short Spanish film in a square that had a lot of gore, violence, and ballet. It was right up my alley.
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