¡Viva León!

On Friday, we had a special excursión right here in León. We started our morning off with a ginkana, or treasure hunt, that took students around some of the most historic and well-known sites in the city. Shown here are the first and second place teams.

After the ginkana (and a "packed with love" sizeable snack from their host moms), we toured the Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, a modern-day church built on the site of an ancient Roman temple. It also houses a museum and pantheon. Needless to say, some students were quite shocked to find out they were standing near the remains of the kings of León.

The last stop for the day was the cathedral, which several students have visited with their families or seen during Sunday mass. However, this visit was a little different. We worked our way up a make-shift staircase and then proceeded to a special platform set several stories above the cathedral´s entrance.  The reason for such an ambitious afternoon climb? We were intent on seeing the famed stained glass windows up close and personal. The windows, currently being restored, are said to have the most light at 1 o'clock during the summer, which is precisely when we had our visit. There are 134 ventanales (large windows) and 3 rosetones (rose windows).