Burgos, 28.7.07

Our first excursion in Spain! After surviving the first week here in Salamanca very well (apart from a lack of sleep…), we decided to visit one of the many other beautiful cities of Spain. First we intended to go to Leon, but unfortunately there are no direct trains and the whole trip would have been way too expensive. So we chose Burgos and got tickets for the first train in the morning and the last at night to come back. Carol and I met Dan, a guy who’s in her class at school, at 7.30 in the trainstation and after an agreeable 2h train journey we arrived in Burgos.

Already the first sight of the city centre was breathtaking, the entrance through that arch and behind it the huge and magnificent cathedral – wow!
We spent the first hour walking around a bit and going inside the cathedral (only as far as we could without paying : ) ) and then took the tourist train around the city to get an overview. There are several really old churches, Carol was over the moon about it because they don’t have anything so “antiguo” in Brasil!
When we got back to the centre, we found a cute little restaurant for lunch and then had the fabulous idea to have siesta next to the river. Seemed perfect, if only there hadn’t been so many insects… I’m still suffering from that siesta! ;)
Afterwards, we looked at the Plaza Mayor of Burgos, which is the exact opposite of the one in Salamanca: round and not square, very modern and all the houses have different colours (unlike Salamanca, where everything is this special gold-brown) – I liked it a lot!
All the little streets, mostly pedestrian zones with cobblestones and cute little coffee shops and restaurants, were the perfect setting for a great day! (we heard only afterwards that it was almost 40 degrees in Salamanca that day, whereas we enjoyed warm but not too hot 28 degrees!)
Just for fun I need to put that picture online as well: may I present you the one and only “helado cannibal”:
We were having Ice Cream when Dan suddenly noticed that the helado-statue in front of the restaurant was eating an Ice Cream as well – the discussion began whether this is funny or mean, because it is eating another member of its own species… well, to make a long story short and since the discussion was held in Spanish, this cute guy on the picture is our darling Helado Cannibal! :)

Actually we should have left Burgos at 9 pm, but we got to know the Spanish way of living with regard to public transports: our train left at 10.30 – which was good as it gave us time to go back to the centre and eat something! In the train we all fell asleep because the night before had been a little too short and it was a full day – but I can only recommend this city to everybody who comes to Spain! It’s not big, perfect to visit in one day, but has some real nice spots!