October 24, 2022. At Leon, Spain.

Dear Christine. The decision to spend three nights in Leon was a good one. The city is friendly, historic, beautiful, and easily accessed by foot. This Leon is tame!

A number of the sites that I wished to visit are closed today (Monday). That’s a good thing because I was fully occupied with the places that were open. I spent my day touring the magnificent cathedral, the cathedral museum, historic fortifications dated to Leon as a Roman military outpost, the Basilica, and Casa Botines, one of only three of Antoni Gaudi’s creations located outside of his home province of Catalonia. It was really difficult for me to cut back the photographs I took to a manageable number for this letter.

Of course there was also time for light dining and beer.

Beginning with my arrival: The central city in the area of the cathedral was bustling with Sunday evening pedestrians. The old city and cathedral area are very comfortable.

I caught this old fart staring at me through the reflection of a store window. Spooky!

For €8 my hotel provided an excellent breakfast, thus began my day.

I’m going to open with images of the Romanesque Basilica of San Isidoro. I visited the cathedral first, but I want to present the contrast between this 11th century Romanesque structure and the striking 13th century Baroque cathedral.

Low, dense, heavy, and dark describe the features of the Romanesque basilica.

In only 200 years architecture had achieved an “epiphany“ which allowed for towering ceilings, whisper thin supporting structures, and seemingly endless expenses of stained glass.

The Leon cathedral has over 1800 stained-glass windows covering over 16,000 square feet. Virtually all of these windows are original and comprise the largest such collection in Europe.

I toured the cathedral museum which has an exceptional collection of ancient art that has been expertly restored and presented. Unfortunately, photographs were not allowed.

Leon draws its roots as a city from its origins as a Roman military outpost. Portions of the Roman fortifications still surround the old city. In many places the Roman wall has been incorporated into more recent construction.

I visited a museum dedicated to local Roman military history. The following map depicts the extent of Roman conquest near the end of the first century.

And here is a diorama showing the city of Leon as a Roman encampment. Notice the amphitheater in the upper left corner.

This diagram shows the composition of one Roman Legion consisting of approximately 6,000 professional citizen soldiers. A Legion was also accompanied by additional non-citizen troops and a supporting population. It is estimated that the Roman Empire fielded over 300,000 professional citizen soldiers who after 20 years of service were granted lifetime retirement incomes. It is no wonder that Rome influence and power extended over Europe, the Near East, and North Africa for centuries.

My final visit before “0:Beer:30” was to the Gaudi designed and constructed Casa Botines (1889-1893).

Gaudi was a polymath, a true genius of virtually all aspects of design and construction. He spent three years contemplating the challenges of building the structure in what was swampland. The citizens of Leon believed the building would sink and crash into rubble. 130 years later there isn’t a crack. Gaudi developed a system of footings and iron columns for support, which also facilitated flexibility for the commercial purposes of the lower floors.

The upper floors provided professional space and luxury apartments. Six interior shafts allowed in light and fresh air.

Gaudi sculpted the statue of Saint George slaying the dragon that is above the main entrance. The original piece was made of local limestone and quickly showed signs of deterioration. It has since been removed to a museum and replaced by this replica.

When the workmen removed the original they found a sealed lead tube within which Gaudi had placed his original signed blueprints.

I am looking forward to seeing more of Leon tomorrow. I’m concerned that my camera is beginning to give up the ghost. I hope it lasts through this trip. I shouldn’t complain since I have taken over 30,000 images with it.

Sleep well Love. Peter

October 23, 2022. At Leon, Spain.

Dear Christine. First of all, I’m sorry for all the grief that you went through today with Delta Airlines over our flight from Buenos Aires to Kansas City. I would not have been any help because I don’t have your patience. I can’t imagine three hours on the phone and having the representative threaten to hang up when you expressed your frustration.

There once was a time when the joined words of customer and service had meaning. These days calls to big companies begin with an announcement that the call may be recorded to improve customer service. I bet if you told the representative that you were recording the call he/she would hang up on you.

I am in Leon having arrived this afternoon by train. The first half of the trip was through torrential rain, but when I reached my destination the skies had opened and there is now a promise of warmer temps and sunshine over the next few days. My fingers are crossed. Before I begin presenting this portion of the trip to you I want to do some housekeeping over the end of my stay in Santiago.

I toured the cathedral museum and had to pay a second charge for a timed ticket to see Master Mateo’s Portico of Glory. When we walked into Santiago in 2013 we could enter up the main steps of the cathedral and through the portico. However, in 2018 there was limited access because of the restoration work. The 10 year preservation process has been completed and those main doors are now permanently closed. The portico is now off-limits except to ticket holders. Perhaps a little annoying but understandable given the extraordinary expense that was incurred in the restoration and the desire to protect this remarkable treasure from future deterioration.

I got one picture of the portico before security politely notified me that pictures were not allowed.

My ticket allowed me 30 minutes to view the work and listen to an extensive audio presentation. I could have easily stood there an hour. I can’t hope to give you the details in this letter, but there is an article on Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portico_of_Glory

This link will give access to closeup details of the Portico of Glory:

https://www.spain.info/en/images/portico-glory-santiago-compostela/

The portico took over 20 years to /complete and includes over 200 biblically themed sculptures. It is not just art but is an actual structural component of the cathedral. It is dated as completed in 1188.

Mateo and his workshop received a lifetime commission from the king to be the chief designer and architect of the cathedral. He is considered the greatest of that era.

In the course of cathedral restoration fragments of the stone choir created by Mateo were assembled and painstakingly reconstructed. The choir had been built in the 12th century and removed/destroyed in the 17th century.

In the course of excavating foundations other fragments that predate Mateo were uncovered that depict the murder of the innocent children by the order of king Herod.

Here is more from my visit through the Cathedral museum:

I also visited the Monastery and Museum of San Martin Pinario. The monastery is located just east of the cathedral. You may recall that in our first visit we stayed in a very simple pilgrim room on the top floor. Those rooms had once been chambers for the monks. Rather than try to provide a narrative I will post the pictures with captions where appropriate:

The monks were particularly adept at creating incredibly intricate and fine wood and lead blocks for printing. In some cases the detail was laser fine. It’s incredible the human hands could accomplish this.

I also visited the 19th century Market Place located a half block from my hotel. It is very active and alive with the sights, sounds, and smells (fish!) of commerce.

I think that about covers it for now. I went to Mass this evening at the Leon cathedral. That’s Mass number four in as many days. I wish I could have understood this priest’s sermon, because it certainly was “lively“. I will head to the tourist information office tomorrow to see how best to occupy my visit here over the next two days.

Love, Me.

PS. I have something that we need to discuss at some length in real time. Text me a time that you will be available later today.

October 22, 2022. At Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Dear Christine. This is my last night in Santiago. I was two nights at a wonderful pension very near the Cathedral. I asked to extend my stay there but they were booked up. Instead they offering me two nights a little further away at Hotel Virxe da Cerca, which is still in the old city. Tomorrow I catch the train to Leon.

It’s a wonderful hotel and for only €86 a night I am provided a suite with a small living room. Outside my door is a garden and an aviary full of little singing birds. My room also has a feature that I decided to try. Mr. Google provided me with instructions.

The hotel would be perfect if it weren’t that their internet was so slow. As it is I’m limiting the number of pictures I am uploading because I don’t want to explode their system! I feel like I have been here before and perhaps this is where Tom and Nanci stayed in 2018.

Yesterday I visited the church and small museum at Monasterio de San Paio de Antealtares.

You may recall that this fortress like building is located just across a square from the southside of the Cathedral. It also gives the impression of a prison, since most of the windows are secured with heavy iron bars.

This monastery was originally established in the ninth century to protect the recently discovered remains of Santiago. In 1498 it became a cloistered Benedictine convent, which it remains to this date. Among the treasures housed in its museum are a first century altar stone attributed to Saint James, and a crucifix that dates to the ninth century.

A charming old nun granted me admission to the museum. The cost was €1.50. She “twisted my arm“ into spending another €5 for a little book (in English) about the history of St. James (Santiago).

When one enters the church the first impression is given by its beauty.

The second impression is given from the features which keep the holy nuns separate from the evils of the outside world. Again, it looks like a prison but the intention was not so much to keep good people in as to keep bad people out.

At the entrance there is a small door on the left. Currently it is to allow people to purchase excellent baked goods from the nuns. In centuries past this was the “foundling wheel” where mothers unable to care for their newborn child could anonymously give the infant over to the care of the Sisters.

I found this interesting bit of information: “…more often than not, there were no forms of identification, and it was the nuns, volunteers, and priests’ job to assign one. Common baptismal last-names for foundlings were D’Angelo (of the angels), Del Rio (referencing that the baby was saved from being thrown in the river), Fortuna (lucky), Trovato (foundling), Trovatello (little foundling), Esposito (exposed), Tulipano (tulip), Urbino (blind), Enorme (very big), Milingiana (the size of an eggplant), or the name of the saint whose Feast Day it was.”

Here are some photographs from the museum. Virtually all of these pieces are from between the 12th to 15th century.

I would have thought that convents such as this would be in serious decline in modern times. However, I found this concerning the convent:

“Today it is still a very lively monastery in which its almost 40 mothers actively participate in the liturgy of its church with Gregorian chant, the maintenance of a student residence with 60 places, a hostel that is run according to the Benedictine values of hospitality and a nursery school.”

Tom and Nanci put me in touch with two dear friends of theirs who just completed their Camino. Kam and Ron, both 70, invited me to join them and two other pilgrims for dinner. While I sat down with the group as a “stranger“, I left dinner feeling like I had known these good people all my life. Our dinner of tapas and wine lasted nearly 3 hours. At the end, Kam and Ron refused to take any money and bought dinner for the table!

I also visited the Cathedral Museum yesterday but I will reserve that for my next letter. In the meantime, I am anxiously awaiting the results from you of Paisley’s run in the elementary school division of the Missouri State Cross Country competition. It’s incredible how quickly she has grown into that sport, but of course the girl is all legs!

Love, Me.

PS. I am counting down the days that we will find ourselves in the same time zone!

PPS: WOW! 66th overall and her school took 1st in State. Awesome!!!