Another chance meeting with Karen

After several aggressive days of walking, we decided to avoid the industrial stretch that enters into Leon. We took the train from Sahagun to Leon this morning. We walked from the train station into central Leon, and dropped our backpacks off at our Hotel Infantas de Leon, so we could walk around with a lighter load. Our walk today was 7 miles. One of our light days, but we needed it!

We went to Mass at the Cathedral of Leon. We were surprised when we saw all of the priests process in- there were 9 priests concelebrating!

After Mass we walked by several interesting buildings including Gaudi’s Casa de Botines, that features a turret on each corner. We saw the 16th century Palacio de los Guzmanes, which now houses the provincial court. Two of the roundabouts we walked through were very nice; one has a fountain, and the other a statue dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

We also walked to see the famous hotel – San Marcos. It was featured in the Movie ‘The Way’, as well as many other movies. The parking lot was filled with more than 150 Porsches today! The Porsche Espana club had a three day gathering in Leon.

Tomorrow we are headed to Villar de Mazarife. The Camino splits, so we had to figure out which route we want to walk. The one we picked is a little longer, but is said to be more scenic and doesn’t follow along the highway!

We headed to the Cathedral Square for dinner. In our conversation on the way, we were saying we hadn’t run into Karen today. (We met her on the bus on the way to St Jean- we have seen her frequently in the last couple of weeks). Soon we heard our names called- and there was Karen with her walking buddies! They shared a funny story about booking a hotel in Leon. They were using  an internet booking site to find a hotel in Leon. They found a great deal on a room with 3 beds! When they arrived, they couldn’t find the hotel, and checked the confirmation – only to find out the hotel they booked was in Leon, Mexico! Since we found that we had to really watch locations when booking online, we knew how easy that can happen!

It’s so great how you meet up with some of the same people you start the Camino with over and over again!