Episode 7 – Mansillas de las Mulas to Leon

The 18 km walk from Mansillas to Leon didn’t offer much time for reflection. It’s mostly through built up areas on busy thorough fares.

I knew that but I opted to walk anyway though I could have and considered taking a bus which Brierly sort of recommends. (p. ). May have been a good idea but I guess my ego got in the way.

So I got up super early and decided to move quickly and get to Leon by noon. Cary and I had been to Leon in Sept 2014 and stayed at the Parador San Marcos where I was booked for the night. Not the typical lodging of the peregrino but Cary loved the place, we had such a nice time and I guess I just can’t resist revisiting every spot we ever enjoyed together. So I was anxious to get there and I covered 16 kms in less than 3 hours and was so happy when I got to the outskirts of Leon. I still didn’t stop. I kept going and going til I looked around and realized there were no fellow pilgrims. In fact no pilgrims of any kind either in front of me or behind me. I had gone too far and missed the foot bridge over the major highway into Leon

and had to retrace my steps turning what should have been about 11 miles into 13.46 miles.

I was not really too happy about it actually. I had wanted to arrive early there were many places that Cary and I had enjoyed together and I had planned to revisit all of them.

The Parador San Marcos is an unbelievably beautiful place

We had stayed at the Parador then and loved it but by the time I got there I was wiped out. So rather than venture out I literally took a bubble bath (first time in this century, in this millenium actually) and hung around in the hotel and had lunch in their fancy dining room

I was trying to be careful not to repeat earlier food consumption errors so I advised my waiter that I wanted something light and delicious that would be easy on my stomach. Emphatically he said not to worry and brought a meal that was beyond my expectations. First a light appetizer that was best described as a scoop of mashed potatoes served in a little casserole but what mashed potatoes!

Everything in Leon is an treated as a form of art.

Next a Cocido de Moragada with fideos

I can’t explain how something that simple could’ve been that delicious but it was!

and then he brought me a plate of vegetables. Yep seriously a plate of vegetables.

Honestly, I’ve never been big on veggies but I’d eat veggies every day for every meal if I could get these. Another work of art

and of course a bit of sorbet for dessert

It also had a beautiful artistic presentation but it was so inviting that I forgot to take the picture before I started eating it.

After, a respite to work on my blog and a massage (let’s keep this among us because this really isn’t the typical pilgrim experience) I was ready to head to the Barrio Humido for a tapa or two.

A stroll down the Gran Via San Marcos is like walking down no other Main Street in the world. It’s more like walking through an art gallery of life sized buildings

and then you arrive at the Cathedral

and then the Barrio Humido

I had a couple of three chatos de vino blanco and some nice tapas

And it was time to stroll back through the art gallery of edifices along the Gran Via to the Parador San Marcos but not before I stopped at a local bakery and bought half a kilo of Rosquillas Fraolin

I was fortunate to have been in Leon during one of their two dozen or so annual town wide celebrations. On this one, San Froilan they make these delicious donuts and only once a year. I ate half of them before I was back in my room where I prepared for the next days 24 kms segment to a small town named Villar de Mazarife where (yikes) I’m booked in an albergue.

Buen Camino