The Leon's Share

A vista from between Mansilla and Leon.

Crossing the walls to Leon’s old city.

A street fair viewed from another section of Roman walls.

Gaudi’s Casa Botines (r) and Leon’s seat of provincial government from the same section of wall.

One of my phone’s camera lenses has cracked, which seems to have had the effect of it making very strange decisions under unusual lighting conditions, like the streak in the upper-left corner.

Moving on with hand to forehead: Leon’s marvelous cathedral.

The crowd sort of implied by the bottom of this image were watching what I think was Lucha Leonesa, which is a wrestling form where opponents grip each other’s belts. As far as I could tell from watching a couple of matches, this setup makes the whole thing very stance-focused, which I of course endorse.

Santa Maria de Regla is famous for its stained glass. Sadly, the aforementioned problems with my phone's camera meant I could only get really washed out shots. While this, sadly, will not be a balm to you, I was bolstered by the fact that the organ was going while I took this.

I stayed at another hostel run by nuns (this time Franciscans.) It was not as nice, being packed and kind of chilly.

The Cathedral on my way out of town the following morning.

Kiddy ride from the street fair looking very ominous in the pre-dawn.

Hobbit hole for sale. Start your new life today!

The next day consisted almost entirely of walking along a highway.

The albergue municipal at San Martin del Camino lives under a very charming water tower.

Much of the next day continued along roads, but you branch off into the hills before you approach Astorga.

It's not Smith and 9th, but you take what you can get.

I posted up in a hotel in Astorga, which was honestly kind of lucky. Someone had some kind of dry cough in the albergue in Mansilla, and I'm fighting it off in a way that has made me very groggy. I've walked around a little, but mostly I've been languishing in my room and drinking a ton of water. I'll try to get pictures on the way out of town tomorrow. In the meantime, here are my boots on the balcony of my hotel room.