We didn’t have a lot of time this morning given that we overslept until 10. There’s no sleep like a long sleep in an ancient stone cottage up a mountain where time stands still. Except it didn’t! John kindly took us to the station in Astorga via the main square for a coffee, to catch the same train we hopped off of yesterday – seems like a lifetime away!
The town hall behind us in this photo is famous for the figures that strike the clock bell. Zoom in to appreciate!
We’d decided to return to UK via the historic city of Burgos, which also sits on a Camiño route, and across via San Sebastián into France at Hendaye for the last leg to Paris. The train journey to Burgos was comfortable and uneventful. During the journey we decided to rejig our schedule tomorrow, leaving Burgos on an earlier train to give us a bit more time in San Sebastián. As usual, the staff at the Renfe office at the station were super helpful, and we got an earlier reservation that we hadn’t been able to secure online.
Arriving in Burgos, we decided to take the 45 minute riverside walk to the centre of town. Got to keep the miles up! The new development along the river is very well done, with tree planting, playgrounds and cycle tracks. We grabbed lunchtime tapas at an eatery on the way. Once checked into our hotel, we headed for the historic part of the city which is incredibly impressive.
This is the Arco de Santa Maria, one of the gates in the old city wall. It features six characters critical to history of the city.
They are (top row) Emperor Charles V, Fernand Gonzalez and El Cid (1043 to 1099). And on the bottom row Diego Rodriguez Porcelos (founder of Burgos) and the Judges of Castile. So now you know! With tomorrow being a holiday, we were lucky it was open. We saw some ancient relics including El CID’s arm bone! Here is the view from the turret to the top left of the statues.
The cathedral is all you’d expect from a Spanish cathedral. It was nearly closing time so we will go inside tomorrow.
Just around the corner from this plaza we spotted a sight seeing “train” which was departing in two minutes. Perfect.
This took us around the main sights with an audio guide over a distance we could not have covered on foot in the time available. The highlight was a five minute stop at the Mirador, where you get a panoramic view of the old city.
As evening fell, the streets, bars and restaurants got very busy and we failed to find a nice quiet place for tapas so we sat in a very noisy place instead! Not a very relaxing experience, but Jane was delighted to be congratulated on her Spanish (again!), the tapas were good and large enough to provide lunch for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a holiday (May Day) so we are going to get up early, go to the Picasso exhibition next to the cathedral and then go into the cathedral itself, before (hopefully) catching the Number 2 bus to the station. We’ve found the bus stop and confirmed it runs on Dias Feriadas (bank holidays).
