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Links: to Spain, by way of Windsor: 02 Rally Finish Onto Spain: 05 onto Leon 06 Astorga 08 to El Acebo 12 O'Cebreiros
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| León, Spain. 14
May, Wednesday In a day or two, we might have to start working, or at least, walking hard. But for the moment, we're doing it easy. It might be just that the Spanish economy is in the doldrums at the moment, but the result appears to be quite luxurious accommodation at very reasonable prices. Take tonight, for example, in the northern city of León. This (below) is where we're staying, for €130 ($A190) a night, including breakfast. Try getting that in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
We are actually on the route of the Camino at the moment, but we won't start our pilgrim's walk until Astorga, a town 50kms further along the way. To start it from here would have added quite a few days to the planned10 days, so we've opted to call it quits at 140km. |
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| After our arrival here this afternoon, the long afternoons, with twilight not until after 8-9pm at night, meant we had plenty of time for a wander around the old city. Highlight of that walk was a 13th century cathedral, built in less than 100 years by the craftsmen of Leon with glorious examples of early stained glass windows. Given that the town had only about 5000 people then, it was an amazing achievement. It's considered to be one of the classic examples of the early Gothic style which swept Europe after the Dark Ages. | ||||||||
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| Next::to Astorga |
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Parador Hostal San Marco
is said to be one of the most extraordinary historic hotels on the
Continent - and after a quick walk around this afternoon, that's not
an exaggeration.. It was originally a monastery founded in the 12th
century, providing shelter for pilgrims walking to St James'
legendary burial place in Santiago de Compostela... just like
us. Sort of.. We aren't doing it the hard way - we have
prebooked accommodation each night, with our baggage being
transported each day by a courier service.