Day 16

Day 16 Atapuerca to Burgos

20k – 290k to date

Today I left a sleepy little Spanish town to move to the hustle and bustle of a large town, Burgos. The first 10k of today’s walk was pleasant through rolling hills and an agricultural area that really looks to be struggling. Every so often, from the top of a hill or through a valley, you would get a peek at the city getting closer. As I approached the city, I first hit the airport property and had to walk around the property, can you believe they put an airport in the path of this Camino?

From there, it was a rather mundane and sometimes industrial trudge into Burgos. It wasn’t until the last 1.5k that we got close to the city center and the sights got better and walking was more enjoyable. One of the blogs said to take the bus 8 to downtown from before the airport and skip the entrance to the city, maybe they were right, but apparently walkers must walk.

The city center, or old town, of Burgos is quite a sight, it is hubbed around a massive Cathedral. The streets outward from there look to be spoked and that makes finding your way sometimes a little hard, but once you catch your bearing it is not bad.

The Cathedral of Burgos was absolutely amazing. The first doors I went in led to the main hall and immediately to the right was the chapel built to hold Santo Christo de Burgos, a sculpture of Jesus on a cross. This sculpture is said to have been made with real skin and hair, legend says that the priests must cut the hair as it grows. The sculpture is striking and it does give one pause for the gift Christ gave while on the cross. I did not take a picture as entry into that chapel is for prayer only. The rest of the Cathedral was massive to say the least, including a beautiful dome and many side chambers or crypts. One could spend a day there if time allowed. I did go back that evening for the nightly mass, wow, it was pageantry at it’s finest. Plus there was an overflow crowd, which was expected as there are tv monitors in the halls to view the mass. The mass was moving and beautifully done.

I wish I had not been there on a Sunday as there are several museums that would have been great to visit, but Sunday saw them closed. All in all, I, must say that the center city of Burgos is a great place to visit.

One question that I have is will I see any wildlife on this adventure. The answer is probably not, even when you are alone walking, there is always several others within a kilometer, so the wildlife in the wild doesn’t show up. Now the wildlife of some of the younger Camino pilgrims showed up for the first few days, but now it has disappeared. The younger pilgrims are just like the older ones now, early to bed to try to rest for the day ahead. I guess this really is a pilgrimage and not a party for all. A pilgrimage to test one’s spirit, one’s character, one’s endurance or one’s faith.

Goodnight from the big city of Burgos

John 3:16-17

continue to day 17