Day 15: To Burgos

I intentionally hiked a longer day yesterday so today would be a “short” 16-kilometer day and I would have time to explore Burgos. I passed one small village Orbaneja Riopoco before entering the outskirts and walking past the airport. After that it was pretty much just business suburbs (and more churches of course) until I got near the old town city center. I went straight to my hotel to drop off my pack and clean up before exploring the old town. I did pass a large outdoor photography exhibit on my way to my hotel.
Although I really like the group dinners in the albergues, I’m less of a fan of sleeping in a room with multiple bunk beds, so I splurged and used my son's employee discount (he is a cook for a major hotel chain) and booked a nice hotel room. Thank you Dustin! My own room with an en-suite bath was a luxury!
After settling into my hotel, I went out exploring the old town of Burgos and the Cathedral. Not being critical here, the gates to the old town really reminded me of something you would see at Disneyworld. (Guessing these gates are older…) The first thing you see when entering the old city is the Burgos cathedral. It’s enormous. I purchased a discount peregrino ticket by showing my pilgrims passport and proceeded to walk through the tour. The place is amazing. As I’ve previously expressed, I’m not religious and certainly not Catholic (although I did sing for a while in a Catholic choir…. It’s a long story…) still it was impossible not to see the beauty and feel the majesty of the art and architecture. Afterwards I had a nice dinner and Vino Tinto at an outdoor bar on the plaza before retiring to my (wonderful) hotel room and a hot bath.Læs mere