One Hopeless Wanderer: Camino Day 19: Villarente to Leon

Monday, May 5, 2014

Camino Day 19: Villarente to Leon

Travel Date: Sunday, May 4 2014

My walking buddy Janet and I took our time getting up this morning. We only have 13K to walk to get to Leon and then we meet our friends and celebrate togetherness and the Camino.

So we leave by 8 AM and got into Leon around 10:30 AM. Easy walk and no rush.

We find our albergue and check in and then hit the city.

First stop, coffee and pastries.

And then we run into Doug from Atlanta, United States who sits down and joins us for a bit. We met Doug two nights ago since we were bunk buddies.

And then all our friends start showing up a little at a time and we decide to be touristy and visit the Leon Cathedral.

Amazing stained glass displays.

Fascinating architecture

The choir chairs

And Moses has one.

It was spectacular. Not as good as the Cathedral in Burgos but still amazing to see the various lighting and structure.

We walked around and then went to the plaza and began the festivities at La Favorita: Lauren and Randy (USA), Troy and Janet (Canada), Sebastian (Germany) and I.

After baking in the sun for a bit, we continue the celebrating at a local restaurant near our albergue. For every drink you buy, you get free tapas. Free food!! Yes please.

And then the shop owner decides to kick a few back and enjoy some dominoes with his local buddies at the next table.

After the restaurant I wander off in the city for a bit and then run into other peregrinos (pilgrims) near the albergue and more celebrating ensues. It was also good to reconnect with Siohban from Ireland.

It is dinner time and we back to the plaza and meet up with a bigger group of friends.

And then walk around till we find a restaurant that speaks to our bellies and absurd hunger. And we dive all in tapas style at Mercado. We basically each ordered an entree and shared it amongst us.