Camino a Santiago: Rest day in Burgos

Coffee on my balcony. Followed by wine and cheese on my balcony. Followed by….you get the picture.

On day two of my love affair with Burgos, and more specifically with my Burgos Airbnb I definitely took advantage. Don’t get me wrong. I did explore the city, which is beautiful. I just spent quite a bit of time doing what you’re supposed to do on a rest day: resting.

I got up late. Having a kitchen to cook in, I made myself scrambled eggs with chorizo. Added some toast, yogurt, juice and of course, coffee. Add in my lovely view and voilá. I was in rest day Heaven.

Once I did get myself moving however, I decided that I needed to focus on just a couple of highlights in Burgos, as truly exploring the whole city in one day would be impossible. Having visited the Museum of Human Evolution upon my arrival yesterday, today I focused on the Cathedral, which is magnificent, and the ancient castle ruins, which not only have a great story, but are atop the city, offering wonderful views down below.

I’m not going to lie. I probably spent about two hours inside Burgos Cathedral. It’s that impressive. Mind you, by the end I was a bit disgusted at all the chapels commissioned by high flying church officials to be their final resting places. Big ego much? In any case, as works of art, and a testament to the history of their time, it was a fascinating visit. Speaking of final resting places, the Cathedral is where El Cid Campeador is buried.

For anglo-saxons this probably doesn’t mean much, but anyone from not just Spain, but anywhere in Latin America, will have grown up reading the stories surrounding El Cid, an 11th Century Spanish knight and warlord who essentially sold himself to the highest bidder and yet was a hero to both the Spanish armies and the Moors. Go figure. Anyway, his image and name are all around Burgos since this is where he was from. I wish I could have done a better job photographing the Cathedral. If my two weeks so far in Spain have taught me anything, is that there is something about the architecture of churches that make them incredibly hard to photograph. Video does a slightly better job, but I feel without proper lights, a tripod, and a dolly, it’s mission impossible to capture even an ounce of what I’m looking at on a simple phone camera. I did my best. And yes, I fully realize that my real life as a television news reporter makes me much more demanding and hence, hard on myself, when it comes to what I consider quality photography vs what others are content with.

Anyway, once done at the Cathedral, I climbed the steps that lead all the way up to Burgos Castle. Talk about a fascinating history. Not much is left of it at all. But that is not because of its age, but it’s explosive past. Commissioned in 884 by the king at the time, it was meant to repel the Moorish armies from Castilla y Leon. That was just part one. About one thousand years later, Napoleon’s Army, intent on taking control over the entirety of Iberian Peninsula, took over the castle to use as a base of operations. During the French Army’s retreat in 1813, they blew up the castle rather than allow it to fall under the control of the Anglo-Portuguese armies. Hence pretty much only the walls remain.

Have I put you all to sleep yet? Sorry. I love history. That is my favorite part of walking the Camino. It truly is the opportunity to walk through 2,000 years of history. My American brain has trouble processing the magnitude of that sometimes. Heck, even my somewhat older Mexican brain has trouble processing it. Either way, I loved Burgos, and some day, I’d love to come back.