Siesta Fiesta en León

8pm

Hostal Alda Casco Antiguo

We are really doing this rest day RIGHT. León is amazing. I’m so glad we had a full evening and day here. We slept in until almost 9am, which was absolutely glorious. After a leisurely wake-up, we set out for breakfast. After a pretty negative experience with a cafe whose staff had absolutely no time to pay attention to us or deal with our lack of Spanish skills, we moved on down the road to a little slice of heaven. I’m SO thankful for "the meanie place," as I came to refer to it, because it led us to Cafe Valor. I ordered a mollette de queso de cabra y marmalada: a roll with goat cheese and apple rosemary jam. OH MY HEAVENS! So delicious. I couldn’t decide between an iced chai latte (again, iced caffeinated drinks seem hard to find) and a Café Bombon (strong espresso and sweetened condensed milk), so naturally I got both. It’s a rest day!

Mi padre ordered earl grey tea, toast with jam, and mixed fruit. The staff was so sweet, the view and people watching was perfect, and we took our sweet time savoring every sip and bite. It was divine. 

After breakfast, I walked across the street to get some supplies for today’s lunch and tomorrow’s breakfast, and my dad went to mass at the stunning Catedral de León. The zen I felt while casually perusing the aisles of the shop (even when I had to figure out how to use the produce scale and sticker printer), walking back through the cathedral square back to our hotel, and sitting on our hotel patio ALONE, is hard to describe. I have scarcely been truly alone since we left home. As a textbook introvert, my energy tank is refilled when I’m by myself. This has absolutely nothing to do with my dad. I love him and I love spending time with him. And he respects my need to get that time. It’s just who I am. Before we left, I read something online in which someone said, "Oh yeah, doing _____ will teach you how to be less of an introvert, that’s for sure!"

No. Nope. Negative. 

This is not a teachable thing. And it doesn’t need to be. Social anxiety and introversion are two different things, to be fair. Which often go hand-in-hand, as in my case, but are not the same. Social anxiety can be worked through to some degree. There is help. There is medication. But requiring alone time and reflection and quiet is not something that requires fixing. And I am learning how to listen to those needs. And a rest day was the PERFECT chance to cherish some recharge time. 

When my dad got back from church, we both just laid in our beds and watched House Hunters and some old movie, just resting resting resting. Exactly as it should be. Then we set out for the cathedral for another self-guided audio tour, like in Burgos. The cathedral in Burgos was remarkable, but the Catedral de León feels magical. The stained glass alone is mind-boggling. There are over 1800 square meters of stained glass. And a rich, rich history.

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon perusing the streets, eating Bailey’s + coffee flavored ice cream, and settling in at a bar for the World Cup final. I kid you not, 95% of the area’s bars had taken large screen TVs from inside and mounted them on the exterior walls or on stands so people on the patios could watch the game. Such a different environment than at home. It was so fun to be part of the madness while sipping our Tinto de Verona (red wine mixed with sparkling lemonade... almost as good as a Kalimotxo, which is red wine mixed with Coke... trust me on this). 

We had a couple hours after the game before the pizza place we went for dinner opened, so we headed back to the hotel to once again... rest. Like I said, we’re doing this thing right. Apparently there’s a 24/7 House Hunters channel around here, so it was back to Drew and Jonathan (those are their names right?) for a bit, while we waited for dinner.

And it was sooo worth the wait. This teeny tiny little hole-in-the-wall joint serves up the most killer pizza. We shared the tomato, mozzarella, red pepper, onion, artichoke, mushroom, and olive, and the goat cheese, apple, and walnut. WOW, OH WOW, OH WOW. 

And now it’s back to our room, one more walk through the cathedral plaza, as we say our goodbyes to this beautiful place. 

León, you were so, so good to us.