Camino a Santiago Day 20: Mansilla de las Mulas to León

Distance: 13.12mi (21.1K)

Elevation gain: 367ft (112m)

Duration: 4h 34m

Steps: 44,395

Calories: 1,303

Leon is a fantastic city. And omg, is this really a hotel and really MY hotel? I felt like a fairy tale princess walking through the doors of the Parador San Marcos today. Calling it a former convent and pilgrim hospital makes it sound pedestrian. This place is more like a palace.

Mind you a palace where the exterior blows you away. The interior is a mixed bag. The historic parts that have been preserved are beyond stunning, but the hotel area is completely renovated and feels too modern and out of place. Like why would you take away its character when that’s your main selling point? It also has a dark history; used by Franco as a concentration camp to imprison and torture his political enemies during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.

The walk itself was not much to talk about. Most of the walks into the cities are like that. Usually they involve a lot of walking through industrial and suburban areas until you get to the city center. Which is, of course to be expected. That’s pretty much any city anywhere. But what the trek itself lacked in charm Leon more than made up for. I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit overwhelmed.

Compared to Pamplona, Logroño and Burgos, Leon seems very big. And though it’s not really, after three weeks mostly in smaller towns and villages arriving took me a bit by surprise, especially when I realized my Parador was a 20 minute walk from the Cathedral and most of the other sights. Yes, yes, I know. But trust me, when you walk all day every day, the last thing you want to do at your destination is more walking.

In any case, once I was settled and rested it was time for a Camino girls’ night out on the town, with a couple of folks who’ve been walking a day ahead since Burgos, and are now on their rest day here.

It went something like this….A Dutch, Irish, Danish, German and American girls walked into a bar in Spain….or three or four. LOL. In Leon tapas crawls are the thing to do, because you see, the tapas are FREE!! Each bar will give you a bite to eat with your drink, and each one serves up something different. It was a very fun night and good to see Nellie and Lilian again. At this point we may not coincide again…although who knows.

The Camino a Santiago is fluid that way. People come and go and you just have to do your own thing and enjoy the people you meet in the moment. Like Sarah. We’re both foodies, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with her in our destination towns, but after our rest day we’re off in different directions and we think we may not run into each other again for another few days. We shall see.

Accommodation: Parador San Marcos. I pretty much said it all above. This is a luxury hotel through and through. The outside is awe-inspiring. But I personally was deeply disappointed in the way they chose to renovate it, completely eliminating the historic feel from both the rooms and the inside corridors. I have a feeling the premium rooms located in the area surrounding the inner cloister, which was preserved and stunning, might be different. But the standard rooms might as well have been any random Hilton around the world. This was one of a handful of splurges I indulged in along the way, and while I’m certainly glad I stayed here once, if I ever go back to León I would choose a hotel in the historic center. This was 20 a minute walk away and too far from the action of León. Standard room including breakfast: €172/night

Dinner: Barrio Húmedo. OK, so I don’t really remember the names of the places we went to, but they were all in Plaza San Martin. It’s a little square in Leon’s Barrio Húmedo known for its tapas bars. We went to three different places and did as described above, ordered a drink and munched on whatever their free tapa was. It was an absolute blast and at €2 or €3 for a glass of wine AND a tapa you really can’t go wrong here.