One of the perceptions I had before was that this would be a bit of a history/culture walk interrupted periodically by stretches of nature. I suppose it’s in part because the guide books a ‘live reports’ can only speak so much to ‘… And the next 14 kilometers was trees and fields and rocks.’ While this has largely been walking from small town to larger town and vice versa, in part due to the weird cadence of the Camino, much of the culture and history is only viewable in passing (eg a church facade, because the church is only open from 2-5pm, and I’ll be three towns down the road by then.) I’ve been feeling a little stuck on the destination and like I’m missing the journey.
However, I’m also finding that by scheduling a rest day in a major city, I get a chance to scratch the cultural itch. The larger cities, like Burgos, provide a great opportunity to be a ‘tourist’ more than a pilgrim. I’m also finding that I really need a rest day every 5-7 days and coincidentally, that usually puts me in a big city.
The approach to Burgos is largely industrial. Apparently, there was a river route, but I completely missed it, so I spent the better part of a day walking through airport access roads, industrial parks, manufacturing facilities, and furniture strip malls.
Burgos itself is beautiful. Amazing squares and a Cathedral that looks more like lace work than stone. I ditch my bag at the hotel and explore a bit. I find the side street with all of the bars and stop in a couple for a cuarto (little) beer and a bite.
The Burgos Cathedral is stunning. It even has it’s own app! I’m finding many of the monuments have free audio guides either via an app or website and they’re often quite good. Much better than the paid audio devices that we encountered in other European cities.
Burgos is particularly known for it’s roast lamb, so I find one of the restaurants that’s particularly known for this dish close to the hotel. I try to hang on to 8pm before heading over, but by 7:30, I’m starving. After some initial confusion on what can be ordered where (The place was actually a restaurant, bar, and cafetería, all in one, and each had its own menu and timings) the guy in charge of the oven helps me get a table. (Did I mention I think my Spanish is getting worse? :p)
I go straight traditional, roasted lamb quarter with a side of bread. Out comes a beautiful brown, crispy quarter in a glazed earthenware dish with lots of drippings. The smell sends me straight to the lamb roasts of my childhood in western PA. The first bite is amazing. Unctuous, gamely, comforting. Dipping some of the crusty bread in the pan juices… I think I could live here. After I demolish my plate, the server offers dessert, specifically a cheese curd made from sheep’s milk with honey. It’s likely a little too subtle after such a strong main, but it was still nice.
Back at the hotel, I sit down to the work of planning out the rest of the trip. While I had hoped to be able to wing things or only book out a day or so in advance, I’m hearing more and more horror stories of people walking 7-15km more than their intended destinations to try to find a room – and then needing to take a taxi to get to some place well off the Camino. I do some rough math to figure out when I think I can reasonably make Santiago. When I plug in those dates, the only accommodations that seem to be available are super expensive. I play around with dates and come up with some more reasonable options and make my booking. I then start working backwards from there. After almost three hours, I’ve booked the last 100kms of the trip. Since Sarria is the ‘official’ starting point to qualify for a Compostela, I figure this will be the hardest part, so I’m going to leave the next 100kms for another night.
In the midst of my stay in Burgos, Kris and I are celebrating our anniversary. Since we celebrate two anniversaries on the same date, this is both a milestone and not. We got to celebrate the one milestone together during the first lock down, which makes it a little easier to be apart for this one. I miss him terribly and I’m sorry that I can’t be with him and his family for some recent events. But in the midst of Burgos, I found a sculpture of how I hope we’ll be when we’re old – Together and happy.
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