Leon Cathedral pix from Saturday

I cannot attempt to guide you all through the history of the cathedral at Leon. Suffice it to say that it is a massive, magnificent Gothic treasure of stonemasonry and engineering that was erected in a simply miraculous 50 year period in the 12th century. It was saved from near collapse during an 18th century restoration (the fellow in charge of the project wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, he took down one side of the transept, threatening the balance of the entire structure).
Anyway, you can find all you want to know on the Internet. Here are just a few pretty pictures -








The rose window you see above here is a reflection, the choir portion of the building has a glass surround that causes the reflection.





These are the pipes of the "Bach Organ", which I believe means he played it. In the upper left you can see a stained glass window that's covered, having work done.


There is a cloister where you can see some original bits that have been replaced by reproductions on the building.


They are working to restore colored frescoes in the cloister. This one's in amazing shape, there are several that are barely visible!


On this sepulcher you can see both the shell representing pilgrimage to Santiago (in medieval times, you got the scallop shell in Galicia to prove you'd actually made it there), and the palms representing pilgrimage to Rome.



After our touring of Leon was done, we stopped at a beautiful bar on a big plaza for a coffee for me and a beer for B. Outside, crowds were seated watching Madrid vs Barcelona on big screen TV's


We ran into Keith and Susan, from England, whom we hadn't seen since the beginning at Orisson, and enjoyed dinner together, but I didn't think to get a happy snap! Onward tomorrow!

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