Leon hearted

 Though a village in the middle of nowhere, Almanza has made the most of its assets, primarily its old fortified walls. They take obvious prise in their community, with clean and tidy streets. 

A typical Spanish scene: 9.30am Friday in the bar. Yes, that's morning.

Great view from the tower

Said tower

Fortified walls and one of the Alfonses I think.

Judi bought a Festival of Strawberries t-shirt as a small measure of support for the town since they had provided us with free electricity and wi-fi.

Then it was on to Leon, the regional capital of Castile. As expected it was a modern city with a medieval heart. We've driven past lots of industry in the north, but we've also seen lots of places that are no longer functional as those industries have come and gone.

Part of the old city

The Town Hall

Colourful buildings in a turn of the 20th C street. Lots of balconies for watching life below.

Leon's cathedral claims the most stained glass in the world. I believe them

Nice detail on this corner 

The old, but still current, hospital.

Leon is on the Camina de Campostella so there were lots of pilgrims, and the churches, hostels and eateries to serve them. I don't know how much your average walker spends, but there is a steady income stream for the city.

Not by coincidence, this next part of the Camina is also the route that Sir John Moore's British army took for its retreat to Corunna in 1808/09, so there were places of interest for the Peninsula War too. Mostly though it was a matter of appreciating the god awful territory they had to slog through after their retreat started on Christmas Day 1808. We had passed through Sahagun yesterday, and that is where Moore received the news that he was about to enter a French trap, with French armies north and south of him. He ordered a retreat and the only suitable road was the pilgim route through the mountains.

The retreat was through those mountains, and not on this lovely modern road.

We drove on a nice provincial motorway which went over most of the valleys and through some of the mountains, but it was clear how rough the terrain was. (I have no photos, as I was driving.) We stopped before Corunna (A Coruña on the signposts here). It took us several hours, so no comparison to the 12 days of hell it took the Brits back then