Yesterday afternoon Sarah’s head had not fully recovered from her migraine and so we decided I should explore Burgos on my own. The walk to the old town from our free aire was another long one, through nondescript modern blocks of flats.
Burgos Street Scene
The old town was large, as suited the capital of the historic kingdoms of Castille and Leon. It was also the home of the legendary El Cid, for those of you who remember the Charlton Heston epic from the 1960s. El Cid was a nobleman who successfully fought for Castille in the reconquest of the Spanish peninsular from the then muslim occupiers and is still a fabled figure for the Spanish.
El Cid
There are various attractive medieval monuments scattered around the Burgos old town, including a lovely old city gate. However the building that towers over them all both physically and figuratively is the Unesco World Heritage Cathedral.
Burgos Cathedral
I’ve seem many World Heritage Cathedrals in my time and this one is amongst the best. It delivers everything anyone should want from a Roman Catholic Cathedral. The exterior is the highest of High Gothic with extremely extravagant carved details.
Burgos Cathedral
The interior, for which a €7 fee provides a very detailed audio guide, is equally exuberant with exquisite architecture combined with elaborate altarpieces and more statues, carvings and paintings of the holy family and saints that you can shake a stick at!
Cathedral Chapel Roof
I had a very enjoyable hour or so slowly wandering around and admiring the Cathedral, which was originally designed in the 13thCentury by the craftsmen who had recently built the great French gothic cathedrals of France. You will recall we visited such a French example at Chartres only a week ago and in my humble opinion the French masons did a more impressive job in Burgos than they did in Chartres.
Burgos Cathedral
I finished my wander around the old town and retraced my many steps back to Basil and dinner.
Today we drove from Burgos back to the Atlantic coast or what the Spanish call the Costa Verde or Green Coast. Initially the countryside was a dusty, parched colour, resulting from the long hot summer, that I remember from previous visits to Spain. We climbed slowly and imperceptibly until I was surprised the see a sign saying we were at an altitude of a 1000 metres. I was surprised because there was no signs of great mountains and so I assume we were on some type of plateau.
As we descended towards the coast the countryside became a lush green and we began to see why – rain. There is a reason why this part of Spain is called the Green Coast and being north of a mountain chain and next to the Atlantic explains why – increased rainfall.
We parked up on the edge of the little village of Santillana del Mar and ate lunch while we waited to see if the rain abated, which in time it did and the sun re-appeared.
Sarah, having rid herself of the remnants of her migraine has now injured her foot, which is becoming more common with her tireless pursuit of 10,000 steps a day. So once again I set out on the short walk into the village on my lonesome.
Santillana del Mar
Santillana del Mar was described by Jean Paul Sartre as “the prettiest village in Spain”. In fact he said it in French, but to much the same effect. Our Rough Guide, on the other hand, says that it has been ruined by tourism. Although there are now many hotels, shops and restaurants lining this small medieval village, certainly at this time of year it has not, in my opinion, yet been spoiled.
Santillana del Mar
What is charming about these old villages is the uniform presence of very old buildings without any new developments spoiling the ambience, whether this is by luck or good judgement I don’t know. So in wandering the three cobbled streets, yes it’s that small, one can almost imagine going back 500 years.
Romanesque Church – Santillana del Mar
In addition to the generally attractive array of old buildings there was also a lovely Romanesque church, which was unfortunately not open.
Romanesque Church Door – Santillana del Mar
On returning to Sarah and the dogs we drove only five miles or so along the coast to the village of Cobreces, to a small private aire (43.388682, -4.210712 €9 plus €3 if you want electricity), where we are staying for three nights. The village hasn’t got any great attractions, but we are staying here because on Tuesday the Tour of Spain (La Vuelta) cycle race has a time trial which starts in Santillana del Mar and passes through this village.
Nobody’s going to steal this cash machine in a hurry
Although there are no particular attractions we have already been told there is a great circular walk along the clifftops to a small beach, which will be our main activity for tomorrow.