Walking the Camino de Santiago
To help give you a sense of scale, here Francine stops for a moment before we enter Burgos Cathedral through the Puerta Sacramental, or Sacramental Door. This is by no means the main entrance to the Cathedral, but more of a side entrance leading into the south transept. This particular entrance is one of the older surviving parts of the […]
» Read more
So of course, we immediately headed for the cathedral. How could you not? It draws you like a magnet. The cathedral is built on uneven ground, so there are entrances on several different levels. This is, more or less, the main one. Date: 12 April 2016 Place: Burgos (Castilla y León, Spain)
» Read more
We enter the great central plaza, and we are overwhelmed by the first sight of La Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de Santa María de Burgos. It’s a difficult building to photograph, both because of its immense size and the profusion of detail in every nook and cranny. It is simply the most magnificent human edifice on the whole of […]
» Read more
Through this gate, we enter the city centre of Burgos, once the capital of the Kingdom of Castilla. Obviously, the gate has had some renovations since medieval times – those statues look 15th century or so. At the very top, we of course have Madonna and Child, and then below that an angel holding a model of the city. The […]
» Read more
Through the rain, we walked over this pedestrian bridge, one of the oldest in Burgos. It crosses the Río Arlanzón and culminates in the Arco de Santa María, one of the twelve Medieval gates into the old city. The bridge was extensively renovated in the 19th century, and again in the early 21st century. The river below is the first […]
» Read more
After you spend a couple of weeks walking, riding a bus is a scary thing. They seem to go so fast! It’s amazing how you get used to things. We arrived in Burgos, got slightly lost, and eventually made our way towards the Cathedral. We met this fellow on the way. As you can see, Francine is much restored today. […]
» Read more
In order to make up for our lost day, we decided to bus ahead to Burgos. Here we are at the last bus stop on the Camino before Burgos in Villafranca Montes de Oca, just down the street from our hotel. There were maybe a dozen pilgrims here. Next stop: Burgos! Date: 12 April 2016 Place: Villafranca Montes de Oca […]
» Read more
Before heading for the bus stop, we had our first breakfast in the Hotel San Antón Abad in Villafranca Montes de Oca. It was in a different dining room from the one where we had dinner the night before, but no less surreal. Date: 12 April 2016 Place: Villafranca Montes de Oca (Castilla y León, Spain)
» Read more
The Hotel San Antón Abad in Villafranca Montes de Oca is swanky – of that there is no doubt. I believe the building itself is a “dissolved” monastery, and the current owners have built it into a brand-spanking new luxury hotel. While we stayed there it was almost entirely bereft of guests, leading to scenes like this, where we are […]
» Read more
With Francine asleep in the room, I set out to explore the village of Villafranca Montes de Oca. There is nothing here of particular interest except perhaps the church, which is only open on Sundays. So by noon I had returned here to the hotel “Cafeteria”, and I spent most of the afternoon drinking with a pair of little old […]
» Read more