'León' is Spanish for 'lion', as you may already know. I don't think there are any cities in the UK named after big cats. Although in Australia there's a place near Melbourne called Garfield.
Similarly, most of you will know (thanks to SEAT) that it's pronounced 'lay-on' rather than 'lee-on'. Bear in mind that the stress is on the second syllable, not the first (hence the accent on the 'o'). Normally I think there's no need to adapt native pronunciation - I'd sound a real plonker if I always said 'Madrid' the way the locals say it - but in this case 'lay-on' is necessary to distinguish León from the French city of Lyons. Saying out loud the 's' in Lyons would be too crude, whereas pronouncing the '-ons' a la francaise would be pretentious. It's a minefield.
In Zaragoza I stayed in a building dedicated to holiday lets. Here I'm the only tourist in a residential block and accordingly my apartment has an entirely pointless 3 bedrooms. It's in a rather unglamorous industrial area, with a nice view over a pharmaceuticals factory, and indeed the address is Antibiotics Avenue. (Not kidding.) I'm on the third floor, and in my twin pursuit of physical exercise and dodging Covid, I haven't used the lift once. The long walk into town does me good too.
The Old Town is full of ersatz, poncey, overpriced bars & cafes, although it's worth running the gauntlet to get to the cathedral. My personal historical highlight was the Basilica of San Isidoro, site of the first Cortes of León in 1188, which UNESCO recognises as the oldest documented example of modern parliamentarism in Europe. Iceland's Althing is in fact older; evidently they didn't submit their paperwork correctly.
The Basilica also contains the Pantheon, ie the tombs, of the erstwhile Kings of León. Here I would normally insert a joke that connected thousand-year-old graves with Sex being On Fire, if only I could think of one, which sadly I can't. And I'd like to show you some examples of the unsettling murals above the tombs, babies being put to the sword etc, but photography isn't allowed in any part of the Basilica.
PS: my blog is always published retrospectively, so if by chance you're aware that León has just gone into lockdown then don't worry. It happened several days after I left. No matter how eagerly Covid chases me around Spain, those high-speed trains will always enable me to make good my escape.
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| Obviously... |
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| Convento de San Marcos Consecrated church, museum, and also 5-star hotel. I'm sure God understands. |
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| On the left is the Casa Botines (1891), a rare example of Gaudi outside Barcelona. On the right is the Palacio De Los Guzmanes (16th century), |
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| Léon cathedral |
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| Graffiti: 'If you're bad by nature, you're good by choice.' An echo of Hamlet, act 3, scene 4: 'Assume a virtue, if you have it not.' |
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| Comfy digs on the third floor. If you squint, you can just see the bidet in the far left of the picture. There can't be many Englishmen abroad who haven't mistakenly pissed in a bidet at least once. |
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| Edd vs Food #85 The outer limits of my culinary creativity. Chicken, carrots, rice. |
