September 25th, 2015

     Yesterday morning Tom woke up feeling, thank goodness, miraculously better.  We’d booked one more recovery day at our hotel, but as Tom didn’t feel the need to spend another day lying in bed recovering, we spent the day visiting Burgos.
      On our first Camino we passed through Burgos, spending one night in the municipal albergue and having just a quick peek at the cathedral on our way out of the city so we had no idea what a beautiful city Burgos is.  Nor had we planned to spend an extra day visiting Burgos this time, either, but the fact that we weren’t able to get a room in the albergue and that Tom got sick then better ultimately turned out to be good fortune because, if all had gone according to our plan, we wouldn't have had the wonderful experiences of staying at the Hotel Norte Y Londres and visiting Burgos.
     Anyway, we spent the morning strolling around the Centro, as this part of the city is called,  
     The building on the left is all part of the cathedral, but only part of the top of the building.  The base of the building is in the plaza at the bottom of the steps.

....hanging around the square,

....and a crowded little pastry shop,

...that made me think of Panera, Spanish-style.

      Fortunately for us, the Spanish people love their sweets as much as we do, maybe more, as every other shop in the cities seems to be a bakery or candy or ice cream store.
     When lunch time rolled around we decided we'd like to return to the Italian place, called Pizza Y Competencia, were we'd liked the spaghetti so well the day before.,   We again ordered a small – read ginormous – very good mixed salad to share and this time decided to try a pizza.  I ordered for us a wild porcine mushroom and leek pizza with tomato sauce and mozzarella, figuring we’d get something close to a mushroom and onion cheese pizza.
      However I learned that day that wild porcine mushrooms neither look nor taste anything like those little white round-topped things we slice and put on pizza in the States, nor are leeks just like onions.  I can’t exactly say that the pizza was bad, as it did have a very nice thin and crispy crust.  But it wasn’t exactly good, either.  The taste was just so different, I couldn’t quite wrap my tongue around what it tasted like.  So I’ll just say that the taste was different and be careful to avoid wild porcine mushroom and leek pizza in the future.
     After lunch we made another stop at the pastry shop for some dessert to eat on a bench in the square,  then we walked a few more turns around the city, then we decided to visit the cathedral.

 The Cathedral of Burgos, the construction of which began in the 12th century, is an architectural wonder.  It’s  one of the largest cathedrals  in the world and the second largest in Spain after the Cathedral of Seville (got that from the guide book).
      In Spain there’s an entrance fee to visit the cathedrals, which makes sense as I expect the cost of maintaining them must be tremendous.   Anyway, it costs 7€ to visit the Cathedral Of Burgos, though with our pilgrim discount we got in for half-price.   One could spend a whole day touring the cathedral, though as there are no public restrooms in the whole cathedral I doubt many people do.
  Though a wonder of human creation, the interior of the cathedral is all bars and walls and reminded me of a magnificent prison.

      Maybe for some people it was.

         Near the cathedral there was an upscale restaurant called  Las Espueldas Del Cid.  Burgos being the birthplace of El Cid, the great warrior who united Spain and was splendidly played by Charlton Heston in the movie version,  there is much homage paid to this Spanish hero in Burgos  I’m sorry to say, however, that this particular restaurant name after El Cid did little honor to his name.  Anyway, as Las Espueldas Del  Cid advertised a 10€ pilgrim meal, just for pilgrims, we decided to try it and were served the most meager, barely edible – Tom’s meal arrived in slightly better shape than mine so he ate his, but I ate little of mine – excuse of a meal we’ve ever had in Spain.  Or in  any restaurant, in fact.  And the Spanish food, especially the pilgrim meals, is sooooo good as a rule.
     After our disreputable dinner we headed back to the square, which was delightfully crowded with people, young and old, out for a stroll or to just sit on the benches and chat or watch the world go by..

 
   As for me, I'd popped into a bakery shop on the way to the square and bought myself (my mate  wasn't hungry, having finished his meal) an empanada,  a large square of puff-pastry filled with melted cheese and bits of ham

....which I happily noshed on in the square,.
    Afterwards I paid a visit to the Ice Cream Man,

....and I was one happy pilgrim.