Elise and I have not long returned from a trip to a part of the north of Spain with which we were not previously familiar, Castilla y León.The initial idea was to go to León and from there to drive further to Bilbao. That's not the way it worked out, however, and instead we visited a number of other places in the same autonomous community as León itself.
The main purpose of the trip was to see the Pantheon of San Isidoro in León, and to visit some Romanesque churches. A strange goal for a couple of atheists, you might think, but we look upon these treasures perhaps in a different way to that in which Christians (and so-called Christians) do.
The trip was a great success: León is an excellent mixture of old and new and harbours plenty of interesting things to see. From León, we travelled to Astorga, and from there to Zamora; we then drove via Toro to Segovia, which we had altready visited a few years ago, but this time went with the purpose of seeing the gardens of La Granja.
Sadly, photography is very restricted in most of the ancient attractions, so here are some links to sites where others present a visual appreciation:
Royal Pantheon of San Isidoro, León
Virtual reality visit to Zamora, including three excellent views of the Flemish tapestries
Flemish tapestries of Zamora (information in Spanish)
Romanesque churches of Zamora
Portal of the collegiate church of Santa María, Toro
I have placed some photos that Elise and I took during the trip on Flickr:
León (incl. Parador, cathedral, Gaudí building…)
Astorga (with one of only two Gaudí buildings outside Catalunya)
Zamora and Toro
La Granja (gardens and fountains)
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