Day 21: Sahagun to Leon

I left Sahagun on the 1400 train to Leon to make up for my lost hiking day, and by 1430 the crowded train was sitting out in on the Meseta completely broken down. As the conductor came through each car to announce the hours long delay, people moaned. But then something very Spanish happened. The car doors all opened to the fields and hedgerows and people grabbed their bags of food and sweaters. Everyone had a picnic! Except for the confused Americans texting their friends and parents about how hot the coach car had become. I didn't want to be grumpy like them, so I joined an older Spanish woman at her request, sitting cross-legged at the edge of her picnic sweater. We had no clue was the other was saying, but the sausage, bread, soft  cheese and tangerine were delicious!

Welcome to Leon, a Roman city!

I came into Leon late, grabbed a taxi at the train station, and sped off to my room. Again, another ten or so festivals happening all at the same time and I was lucky that I reserved a room or I may have gone without! I made a quick dash around town to see the sites.

This is how I felt. 

The street outside my Hostal before it filled with 10pm parties.

I have to say that trying to see Leon late in the day, racing to get to places before they closed (and failing,) made me so tired. I returned to my room a little disappointed and closed the shuttered windows to the street noise, showered, and fell asleep. Not the day I had planned. I could hear the parties kicking into high gear by 10pm on the street below. Conveniently the room had an AC unit that I turned on to drown out the noise. I called the front desk and asked for a pizza. A small one came to my door by 11pm. I inhaled it and fell back to sleep. Crazy times in Leon - not.

Cathedral of Leon. Closed by the time I got there.