León, Spain

August 2-3, 2016

León is also in Northern Spain and we took a train between Bilbao and León to see some of the beautiful countryside.  Its city population as of 2015 is 127,817 makes it the largest municipality in the León province.  The city was founded as the military site around 29 BC.  The city’s first recorded historical landmark was being a main center for the Reconquista in 910 AD. Their next contribution to Spanish history was hosting the first Parliament in European history under the reign of Alfonso IX in 1188.  The current motto of the city is “The cradle of Parliamentarism". The third major Spanish historical event was being one of the first cities to hold an uprising in the Spanish War of Independence in the early 1800s.  By 1833 it became the provincial capital. In more modern history, the railroad, mining, and being a communications hub have been their main industries.  

The largest attraction that we visited was León's French-style Gothic Cathedral which is also called The House of Light or the ‘Pulchra Leonina’. This name is in because of the huge stained glass windows on every wall throughout the cathedral. They are having a rough go with structural stability because when they removed walls to put in the stained glass, the walls then were weakened and being a stone structure is putting a lot of weight on the few remaining walls.  It was very beautiful though. While walking through the city, our next stop was the Convento de San Marcos.  The building design is plateresque and Renaissance Spanish architecture is very stunning and currently is operated as a luxury Parador.  Damon’s favorite stop was Basílica de San Isidoro that is where the first European Parliament was held in 1188.   The original church was built in the pre-Moor period over the ruins of a temple to the Roman god Mercury.  León's Cortes dealt with matters like the right to private property, the inviolability of domicile, the right to appeal to justice opposite the King and the obligation of the King to consult the Cortes before entering a war. This church also is the final resting place for León’s medieval monarchs. Our last destination was to see the Casa de los Botines which was designed by Antoni Gaudí with construction finishing in 1893. Owen’s favorite part was riding the tourist train around the city and trying to hang off the front edge of our cart.  

This trip to Bilbao and León was our last big trip while still living in Spain.  There is no denying that I was feeling pretty worn out from travel, but all in all it was a fun weekend.