Explorations of a northern Spanish city with layers of history.
León is a decent sized city in northern Spain. It was founded in 29 BCE as a Roman military encampment and later grew into a city. The city survived the fall of the Roman Empire and the Arab invasions. Today, León is a modern city with a fantastic historic core.
Starting off strong with the Monasterio de Concepcionistas. The nuns sell baked goods here.
Wandering Jana Gorgeous old buildings.
Wandering Jana Even more gorgeous old buildings.
Wandering Jana I love this building on Plaza del Grano, a medieval market area.
Wandering Jana Can’t visit León without seeing its fantastic cathedral. The Cathedral of León is of the French Gothic style. It would not look out of place in France.
Wandering Jana Looking closer at the facade. It’s insane.
Wandering Jana Um…
Wandering Jana Now inside. It was super dark as you can see. The cathedral had the traditional Spanish choir/altar area separation in the middle of the church.
Wandering Jana I love the stained glass windows.
Wandering Jana It was super dark in there. It didn’t help that it was dark and cloudy outside.
Wandering Jana It does make it a bit more dramatic.
Wandering Jana Even the chapels in the back are elaborate. Really reminds me of a French cathedral.
Wandering Jana Amazing main altar.
Wandering Jana The choir is a lot. They were doing some work on the stained glass windows. Don’t normally see platforms like that without a ton of scaffolding underneath.
Wandering Jana I love super elaborate choir stalls.
Wandering Jana The details are impressive.
Wandering Jana Amazing.
Wandering Jana Most doorways would have been painted like this. It leads from the cathedral to its cloister.
Wandering Jana The doorway into the cloister itself is insane.
Wandering Jana The cloister is full of statues from the Diocesan Museum, which was closed. Thankfully, the cloister was still open.
Wandering Jana It’s a fairly small cloister.
Wandering Jana But the details are fantastic.
Wandering Jana Across the plaza from the cathedral is the gorgeous Palacio Episcopal.
Wandering Jana This is a hospital entrance. A facade of a palace from northwest of León was relocated here to make the newer hospital building fancy.
Wandering Jana León has some gorgeous city walls. Not all of the walls remain, but what does is fantastic.
Wandering Jana Most of the walls are from the Roman period, with medieval additions. Many buildings were built against the walls, but many towers were demolished at some point on a different side.
Wandering Jana The ridiculous facade of Convento de San Marcos. The monastery is now a luxury state run hotel called a parador. The monastery’s church is to the left of this photo. They just restored the facade on this section and currently working on the church. The monastery served as a concentration camp during the Spanish Civil War.
Wandering Jana The Gothic church doesn’t quite fit with the Baroque facade of the monastery.
Wandering Jana The sacristy is more like it. A few rooms attached to the church are part of the Museum of Leon, which is now in another building.
Wandering Jana Puente de San Marcos is on the French Way of the Camino de Santiago. There was more than one pilgrim route that ended at Santiago de Compostela, this one started in France.
Wandering Jana Another gem of León is the Basilica of San Isidoro and its monastery, which is now a museum.
Wandering Jana A pretty standard Spanish Romanesque/Gothic church. It’s the museum (which was closed) that is the gem. The cloisters has the royal burial chamber of the the Royalty of the Kingdom of León.
Wandering Jana Romanesque capitals are insane.
Wandering Jana This doorway is amazing.
Wandering Jana Palacio De Los Guzmanes. That balcony is fantastic.
Wandering Jana Casa Botines, designed by the famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí.
Wandering Jana Plaza Mayor. I came through here in the morning when there was a market. I had to come back. I love Spanish main squares.
Wandering Jana Turn around and you can see the Old City Hall.
León was more than what I expected. I knew going in that a couple of the larger museums were closed (they close for a couple of weeks in January. I just had bad timing.), so I didn’t know what else what I could find to do. There is soooo much to see here. The cathedral is top notch. The historic city center is less modern than I thought it would be. It was just fun to walk around and explore. There are a ton of museums and tours you can check out. I went to the Museum of Leon’s main campus and it was great. If you add in the religious museums, you would need at least two days for León. I want to go back.
Tune in for my next update where I explore a city still protected by its Roman walls!
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Start at the beginning of this adventure!
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