Travel Guide Burgos

Situated at an altitude of 900 meters, this city of more than 176,600 inhabitants has a continental climate with cold winters and strong winds. It was a center of passage for pilgrims, having up to 33 hospices to receive them. But it was also the city of the Cid Campeador, which inspired, of course, one of the most famous plays of Cornelius, but above all many poems and stories that have formed the Spanish soul. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, alias El Cid (from the Arabic sidi, "Lord"), was born around 1040 near Burgos. This extraordinary soldier does not seem to have been the uncompromising hero that the epic poem El Cantar de Mio Cid claims, and it seems that he worked, at random, for both Christians and Moors, which apparently did not affect his charisma or popularity. His greatest achievement was the capture of Valencia in 1094.Burgos, capital of the Cid, is also the city of the great cathedral which is to Spain what Chartres is to France. Burgos, a museum city, was once Franco's headquarters during the civil war. Today's Burgos is a cheerful and lively city. All around the cathedral, many mesones open their doors and invite you to taste the good Castilian cuisine. Don't miss the specialties such as the morcilla (blood sausage) and its queso de Burgos (cheese). Burgos is a small city, so everything can be visited on foot: in a distance of about 2 km, you will have walked through the entire city center, where you will find beautiful buildings such as the House of the Cordon, the church of San Lesme and the Arch of San Martín. Finally, at each end of the city, you can visit the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores and the monastery of Las Huelgas. As far as shopping is concerned, the shopping streets are Calle Vitoria, with its elegant boutiques, and those of the old quarter. You will find typical gifts of the city, such as the Cid boxes and the yemas, a mixture of egg yolk and sugar, used by the canons to arm themselves against the cold!