Day 8

Today we took a break from walking to enjoy León, starting with a walk by the cathedral. 

Unfortunately nothing was open at 8 am.  And I mean nothing. No restaurants, stores, museums, or churches. We had to walk for at least 20 minutes before we found the one cafe that was open. 

Because it was the only place open, we stayed there for about an hour, when we thought some museums would be opening. 

After our long drawn out breakfast we went to see some sights. We saw the plaza mayor:

The backside of the cathedral:

We tried to go to several different museums; however, it turned out that most of them were closed on Mondays, so we were unsuccessful at seeing any if them. 

It started raining then, so we dodged into a shop, were Mark found el Cid's sword!

The rain was getting worse, and Valor was next door, so chocolate and churros were our only option. 

After that we visited a smaller cathedral. 

And then walked in the rain to get a doner kebab, which Mark was thrilled about. 

After kebabs, we walked to the parador, which is an old monastery turned super fancy hotel. You might remember it from the movie, The Way. Not a bad place to stay, right?

We met up with Mark's dad (who is here doing research) at the parador and then went to hit up the town. 

Here we are with a worn out Santiago. 

Mark's dad told us to look "saintly" for this one:

After yet another bite to eat, we went to the cathedral. 

But this time we went inside! The León cathedral is a gothic cathedral known for its stained glass windows. They did not disappoint!

We went back to the parador to rest for a bit, and then headed out for a late dinner. 

By then the rain had cleared and the sky was beautiful. 

The food we had was amazing. A great ending to our day in León.