Briones to Burgos …..On Our Way to Santiago de Compostella

France and Spain 2015........a roadtrip with a boat cruise

September 22nd

Time to go ….we leave without a formal breakfast and are soon on the highway aiming first for Burgos and then Leon, where we will spend the night. The day is cool, cloudy and misty although the predictions are for sun….

We are following the route of St. James on our version of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella….we decide to get off the main road and see if there are pilgrims on their way, This route (there are many) is signposted and well trodden …it has been around for several thousand years. We are now out of the Rioja and this area is not very pretty, we pass villages where there are hostels catering to the pilgrims…..here are backpackers, cyclists, and people just walking with lite day packs……as we drive on you can see them walking or riding on the roads or walking on paths through the fields.

and sometimes not an easy slog:

Eventually we get back on the autopiste and arrive in Burgos, noteworthy for it’s Cathedral….we decide to do a full tour as this is a magnificent building.

It has been many years since I have been to the Cathedrals in Paris or Chartes but this one is truly spellblinding…..the size, the artwork, the workmanship in all types of materials > all of the highest level……

…how many cherubs can you find…??????

We were issued handsets which explain the origins etc. of each chapel (there must be about 20 major ones) as well the key points of interest. As an example, below is the choir area…each section hand carved by various artists in their workshops and assembled on site, each unique, but when assembled it looks as if it were made by one person (at least to the non cognoscenti):

An all too short a visit but we still have a few hundred kilometers before reaching Leon. This is a first for us ……we will be staying in the Parador Los Marcos….one of many monuments which have been converted to hotel/restos in part to defray the cost of maintaining them.

It really was like staying in a museum

and dinner wasn’t shabby either….actually somewhat like our major CP Hotels…

Well once again it is time to hit the sack, and oh what a glorious sack!!!