Burgos Castle

In the evening I took the path up to Burgos Castle. On the way there is a compass rose which shows the direction of other cities. For example, Santander and Edinburgh are due north of this point.

There is a good view over the city.

A telephoto shot of the cathedral.

Higher up the ruins of the castle are surrounded with scaffolding. The French blew up the castle in 1813 when retreating from Wellington. So hasty was the demolition that the last of the French soldiers were also killed. The powerful blast destroyed most of the cathedral's windows.

The castle has been left in ruins since but an interpretation centre is being set up.

From there one has a view of the compass rose and the city.

Another long shot of the cathedral in slanting light.

This is the Fountain of San Esteban outside the Iglesia de San Estaban, at the foot of the hill.

The sun was now low enough to colour the cathedral caramel.

This is a mural called Mímesis, seres y lugares (Mimesis, beings and places) on the wall of a church building.

For dinner I found Tora Street Food, a shop that served me an Asian sticky rice package, and (I think) a tiramusu. I didn't expect to find such a shop in Burgos. Though more formal Japanese restaurants are an established species in Spain. The sticky rice was actually quite good and tasty.

Before heading back to my hotel I captured this view of the area in lamplight. 

Afternoon in Burgos

After leaving the MEH, I headed for the Mercado Sur de Abastos, which is just next to the bus station, hoping I might find something for lunch. This baker's shop looked the most likely candidate, but none of the items on display were suitable.

So I just took pictures of stalls that looked attractive. Of course uncooked meat isn't lunch material.

The fruits and vegetables looked attractive, but not as a main course.

So back to the city centre via the Puenta Santa María, and Arco de Santa María.

There's a gap of an hour between this photo and the next and I do remember finding a restaurant so I must have had lunch then.

The Cathedral, very shiny in the bright sunshine.

The square it's in.

Burgos is on the Camino Frances, the most well-known one, so pilgrims would come here to get their passport stamp. 

Outside the city wall again, I walked along Paseo de Marceliano Santa María which has a topiary.

Udon is a Japanese restaurant on the Paseo Espolón, which delimits the park on the north. The shady canopy is pleasing.

Back to the topiary.

The municipal theatre which we saw yesterday marks the end of the park.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid, a knight, commander and ruler of 11th century Iberia is a national folk hero. However this theatrical production Rodrigo vs Ruderico, staged with the sponsorship of the city, shows that the Burgalés are not afraid of using humour and satire to spice up the legend.

Museum of Human Evolution

Just outside the museum I was about to visit are these statues of a hominid leading a child. You will understand their significance in a moment.

You may wonder how a city like Burgos acquired a Museum of Human Evolution (MEH in Spanish). It's because the Atapueca archaeological site is about 16 km east of the museum. Bone fragments from about 800,000 years ago were discovered there. They provided insight into hominid settlement in Western Europe and a new species, Homo Antecessor was named as the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens, displacing Homo Heidelbergensis.

But first a translation of the poster. Sueños Rotos (Broken Dreams) refers to bones found of young girl indicating a truncated childhood. The MEH is 15 years old. The Atapueca site has been UNESCO World Heritage for 25 years.

Incidentally the museum staff were very kind to point out that as a senior I qualified for free entry.

The underground level (-1) has replicas of the sites. Also there is this large timeline of hominid species.

This poster visualises a young Homo Antecessor. The facial features are similar to modern humans. One feels kinship, even affection for this distant ancestor.

Level 0 has lifelike sculptures of 10 hominid species, and a reproduction of Darwin's quarters on the HMS Beagle.

Level 1 is devoted to milestones in the development of culture.

Level 2 displays 3 ecosystems for evolution: jungle, savanna, and tundra-steppe.

It's a very fine museum and one of the best science museums I've visited. I am a bit surprised I took only a few pictures. I probably felt there was no point replicating what can be seen on the museum's website. I encourage you to explore it. You can even do a virtual tour.

In the long run we are but dust, but it's poignant that we can now tell the story of our ancestors and our species, and our blink of the eye moment in time. For the moment, we are alive.

Arrival in Burgos

I could have proceeded westwards along the coast, but I had planned a detour inland to visit Burgos. It's in the community of Castille and León on the eastern flank. The last time I passed through was when I spent a couple of days in Salamanca, on the western flank.

I passed the impressive looking State Library on the way to a laundromat. I grabbed lunch in a nearby cafe while the machine worked.

The Spanish language is called Castillian in many parts of the world, indicating this as the heart of Spain. The climate is continental with hot summers and cold winters (extreme of -22°C!).

Finally I had the luxury of a room to myself instead of shared backpacker accommodation, which I hadn't since Bordeaux due to the high prices in Basque Country. I rested until the evening when the light would be gentler.

I headed towards the Burgos Cathedral in the centre. On the way I passed this attractive fountain.

It's in front of the Evolution Forum Congress Centre and Auditorium.

This is a statue of Diego Rodiguez, son of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid.

Metres away is a statue of El Cid.  More about this famous warrior later.

It's in front of the Municipal Theatre. You can sense that the architecture here differs slightly from Basque Country. A cogniscente could tell you what those characteristics are.

A panorama of Plaza Mayor, the central square.

A side street in an attractive mix of natural and artificial light.

The section in the middle has an interesting facade. 

A couple of streets away from the Plaza Mayor, Burgos Cathedral is one of the major sights of the city. We will return to it later.

The Arco de Santa Maria, a restored medieval city gate.

The outside of the gate.

I crossed the Puente Santa Maria and took this from the other side of Rio Arlanzón, the river that flows through Burgos, but outside of the centre.

I couldn't resist another picture of the fountain outside the Evolution Congress Centre even shinier in the dusk.

I found a late meal and called it a day. 

Mount Artxanda

Last day in Bilbao so I've decided to see the city from up high by taking the funicular up Mount Artxanda. in this part of Bilbao, the tram lines are on the west of the Nervión so I crossed a footbridge to the eastern side where the base station is. The footbridge is attractive.

The lower station.

The car I boarded.

On the summit a short walk leads to a viewing area.

And this is what you see, that Bilbao is surrounded by hills.

The Guggenheim is partly obscured by the greenery but can be mostly seen in this telephoto shot.

This would be upstream on the Nervión with the Arriaga Theatre.

This is downstream of the Guggenheim. The tall building is the Iberdrola Tower and the L-shaped building in front of is the Bizkaia Aretoa convention and exhibition centre associated with the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).

There aren't many photos but I spent a pleasant few hours there, including eating my packed lunch. I also took a loop walk from there, but I guess I didn't see anything photogenic.

After all that hard work sightseeing, I just had to have an edible peak in the evening.