Burgos is an absolutely amazing place-and that’s the problem. This is supposed to be a rest day. But who wants to stay in an apartment resting, blogging and reading when there is a UNESCO level cathedral across the street, a human evolution museum a 12 minute walk away and a vibrant city full of Camino friends just outside your door. Sally suggested we take a zero in a tiny village where there is nothing to do, but then you miss all Burgos has to offer. As my Crystallography teacher, Robert Christman used to say, “What’s a poor boy to do?”.
Sally had been dreaming of sleeping in until 10:00am, but at 7:30am she was awake and anxious to make sure she knew how to ship her pack tomorrow. Down the 76 steps in our apartment building to the street. Five doors down is the municipal albergue. Here we checked out the luggage shipment business and found we could drop her tagged pack in the cafe across the street by 7:30am and it would be on its way. Back up the 76 steps for breakfast and preparations to tour the Burgos Cathedral. Down the 76 steps, across the street and into the cathedral ticket office. €5 each because we are pilgrims, otherwise €17. We had downloaded the audio tour earlier and with earbuds in we were ready to get some of that old time religion. When I say old time, I mean 1000AD, when this amazing cathedral was started.
The tour lead us through all the nooks and crannies of this stone marvel. I had been here four years ago, but I was as captivated this time as last. The attention to detail on every wall, ceiling, metal gate, stone arch, chapel and cloister leaves senses reeling. There were 32 stations in the audio tour, but by the time you get to station 20 your senses are so overloaded that the next 12 stations lose their punch. Next time, I’m going to start at 32 and work backwards so the end gets the appreciation it deserves. Absolutely stunning.
I think another thing that makes it so amazing is the maintenance performed on the place. Nothing is dusty. No thick layers of cobwebs and dust bunnies. It looks splendid, probably better than the day it was finished.
We left through the gift shop (as in all such tourist places) and began navigating our way toward the Evolution museum, Becky and Sally stopping often at windows to check out the shop’s contents. We had spent two hours in the cathedral and it was now approaching noon, so we searched out a shop to have a sandwich. It was only two blocks from the museum. Off to the museum!
Because we are decrepit and old, our admission to the museum was free. Melissa and Malcolm had told us how much they enjoyed it so we were eager to check it out. Anthropology is not my favorite subject. This made me a little hesitant, but I was ready to be converted. We had downloaded an audio guide to lead us through. It only had a one star rating. This should have been a warning. Right off we could not make a connection between the audio tour guide and the displays. No connection whatsoever. We knew the story of how when cutting through some mountains for a road bed just outside Burgos these bones were found, with human bones dating back 1.2 million years. Amazing. But I think the museum curators were so amazed at their findings they didn’t feel they had to present them in a context that would engage the general public. I am a science guy and I couldn’t get engaged. There was no theme to the displays, no context of their place in history, either of man or the planet. The exhibits seemed like a scatter shot instead of trying to tell a story. A bunch of 800,000 year old femurs and skulls and feet and fingers and pelvises behind glass with labels. Big whoop. Maybe it is the teacher in me, but I felt a profound sense of disappointment that they made no effort to grab our attention and make us share their excitement.
There are four floors to this open air indoor museum. We tried each floor, hoping to be grabbed and excited. We left after an hour. But, the good thing is, we now had a whole afternoon free to rest and relax.
On our minds was meeting up with Tom and Nicki for a drink at an outside cafe. We had their number and were headed back to our room when Sally and Becky spotted them already at an outside table having a beer. We joined them and bought the first round. 4 beers, two red wines, two Pepsi’s- €32.00.
We spent an hour and a half chatting with Tom and Nicki from Australia, Lyle and Lori from Alberta, Canada and Nico from Germany, comparing political systems (voting in Australia is mandatory-you are fined if you don’t vote) and how each country handled the pandemic. There are a lot of Aussies here because last year if they left the country they were not sure if they could get back in if COVID flared. This is the first year they feel they can travel.
We returned to our apartment, up the 76 stairs, and made a huge green salad with pasta for dinner. We added the left over meat from yesterday’s Kebabs and it was delicious.
We packed up in preparation for leaving tomorrow, then showered and wrote while Becky and Sally watched some reruns of James Corden and SNL on the tele via YouTube.
Tonight was the “Blanco Noche” celebration in Burgos. We know the Spaniards party late, so we were loath to try and join the party happening outside our door, but at 9:00pm Sally and I clumped down the 76 stairs to the city streets below to join the celebration.
Being on the western edge of the time zone, the sun had not even set yet. The celebration features projections onto the walls in the city and the cathedral set to music, but those wouldn’t even begin until 11:30pm when it was totally dark, too late for these traveling pilgrims that have to get up at 5:45 am. We wandered the streets, packed with people of all ages, including families with little kids and old folks being helped down the streets with their walkers. 20,000 people? 50,000 people? It was shoulder to shoulder in every plaza and on every street. Festive. Happy. Fun.
About 10:15pm we trudged up the 76 steps to our apartment and called it a night, wishing we could see the projections and enjoy the booming music, but too tired to do so.
I finished my blog entry including photos about 11:15 pm. I should have rallied for one more trip outside, but instead plugged in my phone to charge and rolled over to fall asleep. It was a great day!! And tomorrow we will start walking what we walked four years ago. I’m excited to see it and compare my memories to the actual.
Entrance to the Burgos cathedral
Alabaster carving of some dead rich guy in one of the chapels. I was struck with the quality of the carving. Spain was once the leader in art and more in Europe and somehow frittered away its leadership position. I have some history I need to read to find out why.
The fine lace-like work of the lantern at the transept of the church. 150 feet in the air. Made of stone. Amazing.
Look at the intricate carving in one of the 144 choir chairs. Each one is unique. Amazing!
Each choir chair is intricate and unique. Many lifetimes of work to create these.
Life sized amazing carving. 5 unique panels like this one.
The Evolution Museum. Open space CV obtaining four floors.
Enjoying drinks with L to R- Chuck, Lyle, Lori, Nicki, Sally, Tom, Nico and Becky
Sycamore trees pruned back ready for this year’s growth to occur.
This is what they look like when not pruned for a year and fully leafed out. Crowds heading to the Blanco Noche celebration.
No comments:
Post a Comment