Paradors and Cathedrals

Gaudí's work

 LEON--We arrived here yesterday after a long-ish drive from Santiago.  We had a short stop for lunch, meat-filled bocadillos (grinders, subs, torpedoes, etc) at a plaza in Asturga where we had a good view of one of three Antonia GaudÍ buildings not in Catalunya: lovely religiously-inspired turreted bishop's house on the same plaza with the cathedral and incorporating some Roman walls.  

The day before, Monday, we enjoyed a tour of the parador where we were staying.  At one point it was a hospital and many of the stoneworks in the interior cloisters are quite graphic in their visual representation of what you need to do to you body if you are sick, particulArly if you have venereal diseases!  Most of the population, of course, was illiterate so the use of pictorials and graphics was essential to pass on important messages--much the same as stained glass windows are visual representations of holy lives.  The hotel, the parador, is magnificent and a wonderful place to stay.  The food was fine, the wines enjoyable.

Yesterday here in Leon we had wonderfully good tour of the town (which was established by the Romans) and the cathedral.  The cathedral is small compared to many other Spanish, and French, cathedrals, but inside the use of stained


glass is magnificent.   It is very reminiscent of Ste Chapelle near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  The windows date from the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries, with a few 19th century thrown in.  Our excellent guide was able to explain the difference and the techniques used to create the masterpieces.

The drive from Santiago is through mountains, some of which still had bits of snow on their peaks.   The Spanish engineers did an inspiring series of viaduct to carry the road across the valleys and ravines in the hills.