LLeida and the posh Parador

Our next port of call was an unexpected gem, Lleida. We had a couple of nights booked into a hotel there and so a day and a half to explore the place. It is the capital city of the area and firmly Catalan. So much so that the name Lleida is the Catalan name for the place, not the Spanish one, but gets used even for official purposes. There are the usual mix of interesting buildings, rather nice government establishments: 

and at a hotel, a very interesting take on the wedding car thing:

The city had been fought over many times and had some pretty extensive fortifications built:

During the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s the river became the front line between the opposing forces and you can still see bullet damage in some of the buildings along the waterside. The bombing by the Condor Legion (German forces working with the Spanish Nationalists) of the local school became rather too famous thanks to a high civilian and child death toll. 

Struggling up the hill to the old Cathedral of Seu Vella was well worth the possible coronary issues. A cathedral that had been turned into a fortress too:

As you can see, the weather was truly terrible - a serious shortage of clouds. 

We stayed in the Parador hotel, part of the rather nice little chain of unusual buildings that have been converted to hotels. They seem to have universally good food and staff too. Here is the original courtyard area of the convent that was covered over and is now a galleried area for the bedrooms and a lounge area for the customers:

All in all, pretty impressive. The original building dates from the 17th century and has been very tastefully adapted. Great place to stay:

Well worth stopping off there, hearing Catalan spoken which sounds even more confusing than high speed Spanish to us and enjoying the compact city life. So far, the trip was going well.