Homeward bound - Burgos

Wednesday 11^th April

Up early to do the blog. Weather forecast rain and thunder and lightening for long drive to Burgos. Hostel man gave us a free breakfast of coffee & toast, and therefore gave him a 5 € tip when letting us out of garage. Found the Madrid road reasonably easily, although again, signage awful.

Made good time to Madrid arriving about 10 am, and had 2 or 3 missed or wrong turnings negotiating the plethora of ring roads and clover-leaf junctions, but eventually cleared the City on the road to Burgos.45 minutes later .

Pressed on making good time, stopping once to phone through repeat prescription. Stopped for lunch at Lerma, a small town South of Bergos. Got tangled up in main square on market day, irritating some of the natives, and eventually got out and down to the river…….well a small stream to have a picnic lunch.

Drove the last 50 km to Burgos, arriving about 2.30 pm, and parked up in underground car park near Cathedral. Walked through huge city gateway to be confronted by enormous Cathedral in pristine condition, apparently the biggest in Europe. Burgos has a delightful Northern Europe City feel, with many pedestrianised streets and squares, with chic boutiques and shoe-shops, bars an d cafes.

Feeling lazy, we went to travel agent to book a hotel, and after a 30 minute transaction, booked us into the Hotel Londres 100 metres up the street, so we arrived before the fax ! Nice room on 3rd floor over-looking a bustling square.

Decided to get sight-seeing out the way, and did the Castle (closed) but great views over Cathedral and City, and the Cathedral itself with its myriad of chapels and huge gold tableaux. Back to hotel for a rest, and then out again about 6.15 to explore the City. We discovered a huge central square …Plaza de Mayor with lovely gabled buildings recently refurbished, river walks and bustling streets around the Centre. We went to several bars for wine and tapas, and were offered a free tapas in one bar, which was “mura”, which was rubbery inedible meat…..probably tongue or lips….horrible!

Back to hotel for TV and bed.