Post It from Camping Fuentes Blanca, Burgos, Castilla y Leon, Spain. Wednesday 7th May, 2014
The drive from France was quite good considering we avoided the toll roads to cross the border and only had to pay a small 1.13 Euro toll charge on a new section of road just outside San Sebastian, which was not shown as a toll on my TomTom up to date maps. The weather was warm and dry and we arrived at Burgos in full sun. Finding the camp site was easy and we soon discovered what a fantastic location it was for accessing the city itself. It is nestled in parkland on the edge of the city by the river and has a bar/café and small, if expensive shop. A 5 litre bottle of water cost the staggering price of 2.25 Euros when in the supermarket it is around 60 cents.
The site is long and reasonably narrow and all pitches were rough grass on very uneven hard ground, although we had some deep troughs on our pitch where wheels had gouged the soil away no doubt in wet weather. The toilet and shower facilities were old and in need of renovation but very clean and the hottest water we have ever had anywhere. Like we had found elsewhere in Spain on a previous trip there was a cleaner working from early morning until 10:00 p.m. which is why they are so clean, take note France and the UK! Not all of the five shower blocks were in operation but this did not cause any problems, even though the site became quite full of tourers including a Dutch rally of 25 van/motorhomes that had followed us from St Jean de Luz.
We had come to see the Cathedral and the Camino de Santiago which passes through the city and to discover what the very large building we had passed a number of times before in the car which was visible from the motorway. The latter turned out to be the Monastery of San Juan.
We cycled from the camp site along a cycle path that runs parallel to the River Arlazon all the way to the city. At a steady ride it took us 15 minutes and we parked the bikes securely on cycle parks just to the south side of the river and crossed one of the many foot bridges into the heart of Burgos.
The Cathedral was very impressive and our audio guided tour cost the princely sum of 7 Euros and we must have spent 2 hours inside admiring the architecture and all that accompanied it. The remains of El Cid are lying in the centre of the main part of the Cathedral and he can be seen on his horse as a statue in the Plaza de Mio Cid near to the river. There were many more churches dotted around the old city, which I thought was relatively small, so it’s importance from a religious point must have been great many years ago.
We also walked the part of the Camino de Santiago that went through the old city and saw quite a number of pilgrims walking with their backpacks, adorned with the conch shell, and some carrying the traditional staff but we did not see anyone wearing the long cape. The path in the city is marked with red stones and there is a conch shell every few meters marking the way. There were many restaurants and hostels indicating that the pilgrims were welcome.
We also climbed the many steps to the Castle, high above the Cathedral, to see the views across the city and valley from 929 meters and it was well worth the climb to see them, although disappointingly the Castle was closed and only open on a Saturday and Sunday whilst we were there.
Unfortunately I forgot to change the pixel size on my small camera so those who like to see the photographs will be disappointed not to see many of the sights, sorry but blame the Club’s restrictions on uploading size, I got lost in the sights myself! Once again the internet access was none existent so I will have to wait to post this story with the others that I could not send.
The weather had very much improved and Smokee finally managed to get outside on Sharon’s knee, then my chair, without catching a chill, or have I spoken too soon? He is clearly enjoying the warmer weather and the sun, now it is out and we had seen everything we had wanted to see so are ready for moving on after 3 nights
Regards, Roy
We are hoping to see Burgos one day, hope you are enjoying your travels!