Burgos
It is Fiesta time in Burgos this week and it was wonderful being there for this. Each day there was a street parade from the people of the various villages of Burgos all carrying huge baskets of flowers to the Catedral.
Local bars set up stands/stalls around town and for €2.20 they offer a glass of vino and one hot, one cold Tapas then the taster is asked to grade the Tapas. A winner will be announced at the end of the week and will be the Best Tapas Bar in Burgos till next year. Each night a superb fireworks show can be seen and the sounds can be heard all over the city.
Each afternoon there has been a thunderstorm and then I remembered the thunderstorms along the Meseta. Burgos is the start of the Meseta along Camino Fránces. I had a coffee at the same bar that Kim and I sat at before she headed off along Camino Fránces in 2007. I stayed on another day with Elke and Döerte. Poor Kim was caught in a thunderstorm that afternoon. Kim was soaking wet and telling herself she should have stayed with me but she needed to move on to meet Bauke in Léon. I sent Kim an SMS while sitting here as she was on my mind. This is the Camino!
Burgos is a beautiful old city in Centro. A huge ugly modern city surrounds Centro which is the view when coming in along Camino Fránces. The Cathedral is magnificent and the pride of the city is El Cid, his coffin is mounted high on the wall of a chapel.
There are many small churches that I have visited this year. I did not visit these churches on other Camino Fránces walks because as a pilgrim you are passing through, injured (for me blisters) or too tired. I have only one blister this walk, on my hand from the stick ... no feet blisters at all.
Santo Domingo del Silos
In this lovely golden (color of stones) village in the bar there is a PC for customers to use. I have a short time before I want to return to the church to hear the Gregorian chants. Here can be heard the famous Canto Gregoriano of Santo Domingo del Silos that many pilgrims told me about in 2002 and now finally I will hear them.
It is a two day visit to Santo Domingo del Silos as the bus from Burgos to Silos arrives too late to hear the service. Then the bus to Burgos returns at 0830 which is too early .... so you must stay here two nights and spend a quiet day in the village if you come by bus .... walking pilgrims can come as go when they please. However, most pilgrims come by bus giving themselves a two day break.
The Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos is Benedictine and has a beautiful cloister (photo), the church is simple but has that smell that I get wheezy from. I hope that I can last through vespers tonight.
Tomorrow I must be on an early bus and return to Burgos before taking the train to Madrid to spend the weekend with Kees and Vicente. Yay, I am spending some days with my beautiful friend and meeting Vicente at long last.
I hope all is well for you all ....
It is Fiesta time in Burgos this week and it was wonderful being there for this. Each day there was a street parade from the people of the various villages of Burgos all carrying huge baskets of flowers to the Catedral.
Santo Domingo del Silos
It is a two day visit to Santo Domingo del Silos as the bus from Burgos to Silos arrives too late to hear the service. Then the bus to Burgos returns at 0830 which is too early .... so you must stay here two nights and spend a quiet day in the village if you come by bus .... walking pilgrims can come as go when they please. However, most pilgrims come by bus giving themselves a two day break.
Tomorrow I must be on an early bus and return to Burgos before taking the train to Madrid to spend the weekend with Kees and Vicente. Yay, I am spending some days with my beautiful friend and meeting Vicente at long last.
I hope all is well for you all ....
Hi Luiza: Oh, your time sounds just wonderful. I would love to be there during the festival. That is the kind of thing one always sees in the movies! And, I would certainly love to be in the cathedral and hear the Benedictine monks chant. As you probably know, I love Gregorian chant (I grew up with it back in the day when mass was still in Latin and the chant was used for every mass - gone are those days!)...I am probably one of the very few people who have Gregorian chant on my IPod! Hope the musty, old church smells don't get to you too much (I have the same problem). Things going ok here. Hurricane in
ReplyDeleteGulf (going to northern Mexico) is stirring problems for the oil spill and churning away, drawing with its counterclockwise motion more oil onto and into the coastline of Louisiana, unfortunately. Danny is improving with useage, but pain is still there. Shop is plugging along, I think I will make this month's goal, and now onto July, hoping I will make the basic goal again. That is all I need. Still very hot here, but we will be getting some outer band rain moving in for several days due to hurricane. Continue to have a wonderful time, and hugs and kisses and good wishes to Kees.