November 3, Day 8

So as I already mentioned I really did not sleep well in the night. Snoring combined with coughing is simply not mine - and there were some other people in the room complaining about not being able to sleep in the night.
Whatever - since we completed some extra km yesterday we only have to go 18km today - sounds like holidays.
And it was not raining in the morning, despite all weather forecasts we checked after waking up. So we walked.

It was interesting after so many days in the meseta that we practically walked out of one village and arrived to the next in a few minutes. And very soon (ok, we made a stop at a bakery in the first village, then at a bar in the second, then at a picnic place at the third) we got to the suburbs of Leon.

It was not so nice - kind of Budaörs feeling, similar shops, a motorway next to our path, but the towers of the cathedral were already visible.

And we made a reservation at a hostel just at the cathedral - so we kind of saw our goal in front of us.

 We passed by a pharmacy along the way and extended our compeed collection - patches for the blisters, patches for the hurting heels, everything there.

Finally we got to the hostel, and it was soooo nice - a living room, tidy little rooms with real bedsheets (most of the pilgrim hostels use polyester bedsheets for hygiene and easy cleaning - but definitely not for cosyness) and even 2 towels! I told Marti how great I find it not being a student (=always being short on money) anymore, but she corrected me that we are only paying €15/person/night for this luxury instead of the usual €10. And here is a picture of our hostel:

Again we made our food (bread, cheese, vegetables, olives) and I went to check on the city. It really is a very nice city - I already plan to come back here with the kids and Peter.

It is a university town and it shows - many museums, lovely parks, and lots and lots of small bookshops. However getting a book in English (or any language other than Spanish) was not easy, but in the 3rd bookshop I found one. One. Dickens: A tale of two cities. And my book until now (A. Laurain: Der Hut des Präsidenten - a suggestion of our Buchhändlerin) will stay here in the hostel - I hope someone else will find it as entertaining as I found it.