Saturday 9/22: The temperature is hovering in the low 40’s so it’s a second day of wearing several layers as we venture to our next destination, the city of Leon approximately 40 km away. We make a concerted effort to limit our stops so we can spend more time in Leon.
We stop briefly in Mansilla de las Mulas to see their Puerta del Castillo of the old walled city.
We arrive by midday in Leon. We begin with a tour of the Basilica of San Isidoro and the accompanying Museo de San Isidoro Real Colegiata which traces its beginnings back to the 10th century when it began as a monastery. In the 15th and 18th century it became an important library that today houses about 2000 books dating between the 10th and 18th century. We were amazed to see one of the rarest codices in the world: a Visigothic-Mozarabic Bible that was the work of Florencious and Sancho in 960. It is composed of 514 parchment leaves and the preservation is perfect. It is called Mozarabic because the monks who made it were Christian but culturally they were Arabian from the South of Spain, Al-Andalus.
Then to the Santa Maria de Regla Cathedral, c 13th century. It holds one of the largest collections of medieval stained glass in the world.
Finally, we visit La Casa del Dragon de Gaudi (AKA La Casa Botines). My first exposure to Gaudi was in the city of Barcelona. Seeing this, one of his first residential projects as a young architect, and only 1 of 3 projects he ever did outside of the Catalonia region of Spain was fascinating. The story of how he laid the foundation, his genius in designing for the weather patterns of Leon to design the windows for efficient cross-ventilation in hotter months, for diffusing the heat of the sun light for the colder months, the selection of slate for the roof to manage snow conditions. If only today’s developers would embrace the power of good design for housing that can withstand the elements and provide healthy living for residents.
Leon is definitely a highlight for this journey.