Leon III

Well I now have a traveling companion. Fr Paul and I got up and went to the 9 am Mass at the cathedral, or a cathedral chapel. After a trip back to our room to pick up the things we forgot, we headed out to see the sights. The first stop was San Marcos - a monastery that was also the headquarters of the Knights of Santiago, and then later when the Knights and monks were no more, various things, including a military barracks, and horse barn, it is now a luxury hotel. It is really a wonder that anything has survived. But it is a magnificent building, with this long powerful facade, that just evokes the power of the church and the order of Knights that were headquartered there. There is an old church, not part of the hotel and still used for Mass, and a museum that had a lot of great stuff in it. It, of course, has a beautiful cloister, also used by the hotel. So we were impressed.
We then went to San Isidore, where the Blessed Sacrament is on permanent display. And indeed every time I went in there was the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance above the tabernacle in front of this ornate altarpiece, all aglow, and even people in adoration, despite all the tourists. They too had a museum and a cloister, and a small chapel called the pantheon, where the kings and queens of Leon, when it was a kingdom, are buried. But the remarkable feature were the 12th century murals that adorn the ceilings. They are as bright and vivid as 800 years ago, simply outstanding. The museum treasury also houses the Holy Grail! It is a chalice that was brought from Jerusalem back in the 10th century for safekeeping in Christian Spain. Now some researcher claims it to be the chalice some held to be the one used by Christ at the Last Supper. So who knows?
Finally we got back to the cathedral and went inside again to see the stained glass windows. One always discovers something new and amazing. Then we went to the cloister, of course, and museum. There was so much beautiful religious art, that it all was overwhelming.  Unfortunately the museums didn't allow photographs, and the books they want to sell you are too heavy to add to a pilgrim's backpack, so I'll probably forget all the wonders I saw.
So it's back to the hostel and get ready for a full day's walk tomorrow.