León is a wonderful city to visit and has some of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen – really stunning historical architecture and it’s main attraction the cathedral, one of the most beautiful in Spain. We visited here on Sunday and what a buzz despite the 34 degree heat – which did curtail our sightseeing a bit 😓🌞

To give you a little history on Leon, which is in northwest Spain and is the capital of the province of Leon and is an important stop on the Camino de Santiago….

A Roman legion set up camp here in AD 70 as a base for controlling the gold mines of Las Médulas. In the 10th century the Asturian king Ordoño II moved his capital here from Oviedo; although it was later sacked by the Muslim armies of Al-Mansour, León was maintained by Alfonso V as the capital of his growing kingdom. As the centre of power shifted south, León went into decline, although mining brought the city back to life in the 1800s. Throughout the 20th century, León’s fame revolved around its role as a major staging post along the Camino de Santiago. The city came within the newly autonomous region of Castilla y León in 1983.

In June 2013 León was declared by Unesco to hold the oldest documentary testimony of the European parliamentary system. This dates back to 1188, when King Alfonso IX recognised the pre-democratic rights of citizens to vote and intervene in the decisions of public affairs. There you are now!

When we arrived, on leaving the car park we fell upon the Casa Botines, a neogothic styled building again designed by Antoni Gaudí which displays a similar style to the Episcopal Palace in Astorga.

From there we wandered over to the Palacio de los Guzmanes, the site of the provincial parliament which has a patio in the plateresque style by Gil de Hontañón.

The view of the cathedral when you round the corner is breath taking and when you enter and see the magnificence of it, it is near impossible to describe and the photos I took do not do it justice. And as for the stain glass windows….. 😳

Leon’s Cathedral, the Catedral de Santa María de Regla de Leon, is a French style gothic cathedral, which was built on the site of King Ordoño II’s royal palace. He wanted to give thanks to God after he was able to defeat the Moors, and the cathedral was his way of doing this. It has a stunning facade, decorated with a huge rose window and lots of colourful stained glass

At the centre of the city sits the grand Plaza Mayor, surrounded by colonnade arches, beautiful architecture and buildings painted in crimsons, mustards and rose. It was originally constructed in 1672, although there were some later additions in 1677. The original name of the square was Plaza Pan, or Bread Square, because it was home to so many bakeries.

And then it was time to get out of the heat and what better then to stroll over to the Barrio Húmedo which is the name given to the city’s casco antiguo, or old town. It translates as the ‘wet district’, because it’s where the city’s biggest concentration of bars, pubs and taverns is located. This is also where you’ll find the city’s best tapas bars and indeed we did 🍺🍷🍹🥗🍛

This is a chemist that was founded in 1827 and is still trading as a chemist today 😳

What a simply wonderful city and we didnt even touch the tip of the iceberg of things to see, but that’s fine as it’s on the “revisit” list 😎🇪🇸