Saturday, 23 May 2015

Burgos - rest day - May 16, 2015

Slept in - aahh the luxury! Plan is for a visit to Burgos Cathedral, 2nd largest in Spain and hopefully find an internet cafe to send some emails as my phone is not able to ( a problem I should have addressed before leaving home)
  The cathedral is overwhelming with multiple chapels. There were huge crowds of people, all with self-guided audio tours wandering around. Forget about quiet reflection: this is a huge tourist area. I don't know if there is ever a mass, certainly none when I was there. I wandered around for about an hour and a half and took some pictures. It is an impressive space, tourists aside. It dates back to the 1200's, and takes the cathedrals of Reims (in France) among others, for its inspiration. It truly is stunning.
  Afterwards, I got lost in the streets of Burgos looking for an "internet cafe" - guess what? They don't exist anymore. It's a throwback to the 90's when not everyone had a computer at home and smart phones didn't exist.

Eventually got back to my hotel and went out with David for drinks and dinner. On the road again tomorrow...

Burgos cathedral

Entrance for us tourists

Huge overwhelming space

Detail of one of the altars from one of the many chapels (don't ask me which)

The Golden Staircase

The (main) El Cid chapel
The choir

Beautiful window (among many)

Detail of faithful dog from sepulchre effigy. Carved in Carerra marble (Michaelangelo's favorite). The detail and drapery are amazing; hard to believe it is marble !

San Amaro de Peregrino - dedicated his life to the welfare of other pilgrims.
More or less how I felt after 1,5 hr in the cathedral.

Statues I saw on the way to being lost

Another statue, almost back on track to find my hotel
Across from my hotel, a great name for a bar that specializes in Gin.

Lots of selection

My friend David and I after a Hendricks G & T and off to find dinner.

Cathedral at night. Back to walking tomorrow.

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