Saturday, March 21, 2015

Burgos

Welcome to Burgos!

This was a fairly unplanned trip compared to other excursions.  Burgos is not a large city and we figured we could find what we wanted by just driving around.  ...and after a lengthy period of driving in circles or on roads that seemed to take us straight out of the city, we managed to find the castle.  There isn't much of the castle remaining because Napoleon blew it up, this is a common theme at historical sites here in Spain.  Maybe that's the origin of the name Napoleon Dynamite?  Unfortunately for us, we spent a little too much time driving around looking for the castle and by the time we found it, they were just closing the gate.  Luckily though, it was the Christmas season and there was still plenty to see and experience.

Burgos is north of Madrid on the A1 motorway by about two and one half hours.  It is known for it's morcilla or blood sausage or blood pudding, I prefer the name morcilla!  I would likely not have tried it the first time had I known what it was but once I tried it, I no longer cared what it's made of or how it's produced because it just plain tastes good!  (it can be produced in a way that would be considered really inhumane in the States)


I could try to describe the cathedral for you but someone else has already done that and much better than I could have.  If you want to know more about the Burgos Cathedral or see more pictures go to that site and it is all you ever wanted to know... more, actually.
We finally found a spot to park and went in search of food.  When it comes to a hungry family, there is a critical tipping point that once breached, turns a happy family outing into a post-apocalyptic dystopian fight for survival.  We had reached that point!

We did manage to find a place to eat, not good food but good enough to get us through.  When we no longer had the fog of hunger to prevent us from seeing the sights of the city center we were pretty excited to check it out.

The Plaza Major was set up for the holidays.  Including specialty food vendors like the one above.  They had carved a watermelon and a squash into a flowers.
There were rides for the kids and vino caliente (mulled wine) for the adults.


In the far background you can see the doors of the cathedral and just behind the girls you can see the end of the vendor booths.  The girls were entranced by this statue of a pilgrim who seems to have leprosy or has been traveling so long that he is turning into a tree?  Truthfully I have no idea what he represents but he had a rather odd anatomical feature that piqued their interest and I was happy to take the picture and find something else to interest them!

Many of the popular tourist cities have a guided tour on a mini "train".  They are hit and miss as far as how worth it they are, Toledo was a good one but the one in Burgos  wasn't as informative.  It was warmer and more efficient than walking and we found other ways to entertain ourselves when things became a bit dull.


I really liked all of the Christmas lights with the 13th century architecture in the background, it made for a festive and welcoming atmosphere and we happily embraced it.


One of my favorite features of the city were these really old highly manicured trees that lined some of the city streets.  They have been trimmed so that the limbs almost connect each other from one side of the sidewalk to the other.  I'm sure they create a great atmosphere in the summer when the leaves are out in full force as well.











The kids were great for this adventure!  It was crazy cold and they weren't completely dressed for the freezing temps (Amelia is wearing a dress) but they didn't complain, they just soaked it all in and enjoyed running around playing in the various plazas of Brugos.
This is my favorite picture of the cathedral!


I'm a sucker for these small alley ways and they are everywhere!

This is a cool infinity fountain in the front of a church.  I love all of the statues, architecture and fountains in the cities we visit.
Goodbye Burgos!

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