Beautiful Burgos
Driving South from Bilbao, once again taking a scenic route we encountered some of the best scenery we'd seen on our trip. A winding rock gorge by the River Ebro was dramatic and wild. The road climbed through mountains, onto the high fertile plains before reaching our next stop: Burgos.
Burgos has one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in Spain. It is a relatively small city, industrial and nondescript around the edge, but boasts a compact and beautiful old centre that is full of history.
We checked into our hotel, a former seminary set on the hillside located just ten minutes walk from the cathedral. Our room was very spacious with views of the towers of the cathedral from one window and the countryside from the other.
After unpacking we walked into the centre. A stork had nested on an old archway just down the hill from the hotel and seemed to keep a watchful eye on our arrival in the city. Storks are reasonably common birds in Europe but as they are so rarely seen in the UK I always get a lot of pleasure from seeing their large and elaborate nests and whilst somewhat ungainly looking when standing still they are graceful in flight.
Burgos Cathedral is one of the jewels of Gothic architecture. We approached along the pilgrims route, the Camino de Santiago, part of the network of routes through France and Northern Spain that lead to Santiago to Compostella. A few yards further on and the cathedral came into view. It was as impressive a piece of architecture as the Guggenheim - radically different of course and much much older but a building that dominates whilst remaining in harmony with its surroundings.
The Cathedral was started in 1221, inspired by the new cathedrals of France and then expanded during the 15th and 16th centuries. We paid the admission price which included the audio guide which I managed to reprogram to Italian and then, back to English - but somehow got the children's version. The guide wasn't that important as there was so much visually to take in. Lots of ornate alter pieces and decoration, a renaissance period 'golden' staircase and the tombs of lots of bishops and noblemen and women.
The most well known permanent resident is 'El Cid' the Castilian nobleman who was born just outside Burgos in 1043. Something of a folk hero in Spain he fought for kings against the Moors, rose to prominence and died in 1099. His tomb lies at the heart of the Cathedral and in the starkly white cloisters we found his coffin.
After touring the cathedral we exited (not via a gift shop) to baking hot sun and decided to return to the hotel to explore more of the city once the temperatures had started to drop.
I found a locals bar that came highly recommended so we decided to give it a try for our evening meal. Mrs B. had her first glass of Sangria of the trip, which was thoroughly enjoyed - and we ordered two portions of bar food which came on enormous plates. The whole bill came to less than €20!
We then wandered through the old streets of Burgos admiring the bronze statues, beautiful old buildings and eventually found ourselves at another bar. Two more sangrias were ordered, (one for me this time) served with small portions of chorizo.
After finishing the sangria we joined what seemed like everyone else in Burgos in walking along the promenade by the river. At 9.00 pm it was still 29 °c. Families, young and old, dog walkers, a lady in traditional costume, cyclists weaving their way through the throng all congregated, chatting, laughing and socialising in the bars cafes and ice cream parlours. It was a flavour of Spanish life and culture and a great end to our day in the city.
Cloudy skies greeted us the next morning and the weather was much cooler. Before leaving Burgos we climbed up to the castle overlooking the town and from a viewpoint took in Burgos from above. We got a brief sighting of a strange looking bird - a hoopoe - that moved too quickly for a photograph. Then it was time to head east towards wine. Next stop La Rioja.
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| River Ebro gorge |
We checked into our hotel, a former seminary set on the hillside located just ten minutes walk from the cathedral. Our room was very spacious with views of the towers of the cathedral from one window and the countryside from the other.
After unpacking we walked into the centre. A stork had nested on an old archway just down the hill from the hotel and seemed to keep a watchful eye on our arrival in the city. Storks are reasonably common birds in Europe but as they are so rarely seen in the UK I always get a lot of pleasure from seeing their large and elaborate nests and whilst somewhat ungainly looking when standing still they are graceful in flight.
Burgos Cathedral is one of the jewels of Gothic architecture. We approached along the pilgrims route, the Camino de Santiago, part of the network of routes through France and Northern Spain that lead to Santiago to Compostella. A few yards further on and the cathedral came into view. It was as impressive a piece of architecture as the Guggenheim - radically different of course and much much older but a building that dominates whilst remaining in harmony with its surroundings.
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| The way mark of Camino de Santiago |
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| Burgos Cathedral |
The most well known permanent resident is 'El Cid' the Castilian nobleman who was born just outside Burgos in 1043. Something of a folk hero in Spain he fought for kings against the Moors, rose to prominence and died in 1099. His tomb lies at the heart of the Cathedral and in the starkly white cloisters we found his coffin.
After touring the cathedral we exited (not via a gift shop) to baking hot sun and decided to return to the hotel to explore more of the city once the temperatures had started to drop.
I found a locals bar that came highly recommended so we decided to give it a try for our evening meal. Mrs B. had her first glass of Sangria of the trip, which was thoroughly enjoyed - and we ordered two portions of bar food which came on enormous plates. The whole bill came to less than €20!
We then wandered through the old streets of Burgos admiring the bronze statues, beautiful old buildings and eventually found ourselves at another bar. Two more sangrias were ordered, (one for me this time) served with small portions of chorizo.
After finishing the sangria we joined what seemed like everyone else in Burgos in walking along the promenade by the river. At 9.00 pm it was still 29 °c. Families, young and old, dog walkers, a lady in traditional costume, cyclists weaving their way through the throng all congregated, chatting, laughing and socialising in the bars cafes and ice cream parlours. It was a flavour of Spanish life and culture and a great end to our day in the city.
Cloudy skies greeted us the next morning and the weather was much cooler. Before leaving Burgos we climbed up to the castle overlooking the town and from a viewpoint took in Burgos from above. We got a brief sighting of a strange looking bird - a hoopoe - that moved too quickly for a photograph. Then it was time to head east towards wine. Next stop La Rioja.
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