Mansilla de las Mulas - Leon (pop 130,000) 18.6 km October 16

Last evening we had supper with folks from the UK and Austrailia.  It's a big deal, to come to Spain  from Austrailia .  13 hours from Melbourne to somewhere and then another 5 hours to Paris .  The UK gal is a nurse specializing in geriatrics so we have to evaluate health care systems in 3 countries!  She is also a twin.  J is about 6 feet tall, blonde with very fair skin, her twin is 5 foot 2 inches, dark hair and olive complexion, a very odd combination for twins.

For supper we choose a first course of garlic soup.  Everyone has been raving about it but we have not had the opportunity to try it yet.  It is good, a broth with bread (croutons ) in it.  For our main course we have fried eggs, ham and French fries, red wine and yogurt for dessert.  It is not a menu selection I would put together...but it tastes good.

In the morning we start out with sunshine, what a treat that is!  We are a bit late starting and stop after an hour for breakfast in Villarente.  After 45 minutes and a poor cup of coffee with no sign of food coming our way we leave.  One of us is not very happy.  We soon come to a bakery and I am somewhat appeased with something with melted chocolate in the middle of it.

We cross this bridge over a dry riverbed.

Some of the wildlife on the camino

A slug I think

We see a few folks picking wild mushrooms

Most of the walk today is noisy, alongside the highway.  At one point we cross under the highway

A beautiful casa along the way

As we begin to enter the industrial area of Leon we see the Home Depot equivalent ?

And pass by a gas station.

And our first siting of Leon (population 130,000)

We have a long walk I into the city.  We see some chestnut trees

These are the chestnuts before they fall from the tree with their protective covering

At some point they randomly fall from the tree and the covering breaks free on impact 

Sid cracked one open - the meat is very bitter, drying must help that out a bit. I had thought the were hazelnuts.....

We check into our hotel and head out for lunch groceries before siesta time.  We find a very busy market

Nice onions! 

We find meat and cheese here

And enjoy some of the sights

We see the Casa Botines

And the Cathedral Pulchra Leonina

This building is on the corner near our hotel

Our hotel is the Paris Spa Hotel (55 Euros)

We spend all of our siesta time In the spa area.  It has a gym (barely looked in there ) and a steam room, sauna, pool and jacuzzi .  Just what we needed.  This morning was the first morning that I woke up and thought that I felt tired.

We thought we might take a day of rest here but the forecast is for sunshine for the next two days so we are going to continue for a day or two yet.  We hope to be in Santiago by November 1st, All Saints Day.  We have booked a flight from Porto to Eindhoven NL on November 13 and plan to be in Nunspeet the evening on November 16.

We are now off to explore more of Leon!