Motorhomers on Tour : Burgos – Home of the legendary El Cid

After 2 days of non stop rain, it finally stopped and the sun came out - yeah! Since coming into Spain the weather hasn't been brilliant but to be fair we have been stopping in places that are nestled in the mountains, at altitudes between 650-800 metres. Our next stop was Burgos, where we spent 2 days/night on an Aire at the edge of the new town, near to a park (N42.35018 W3.68078). It has all the usual facilities, and although full of motorhomes coming and going over the 2 days it was very quiet. Burgos is a sprawling concrete jungle, with high-rise buildings dominating the sky line and driving in at first we wondered whether we wanted to stop here at all, not being city lovers and all of that! However, that said the old town is beautiful. From the Aire it’s about a 2.5km walk to the old town, along the river Arlanzón.

Paseo del Espolón – lined with trees and 19th century iron gas lamps

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, otherwise known as El Cid (The Lord Champion) was born in Burgos in 1043, and died in Valencia in 1099. He was a famous Spanish national folk hero, who symbolised chivalry and virtue. His body is buried in Burgos Cathedral, along with his wife Doña Jimena.

El Cid

The main gateway into the old town is Arco de Santa María, one of 12 original medieval gateways to the city. In its alcoves are key figures from the city’s past.

Arco de Santa María

I know I said in my last blog that we had over done it with castles, churches and cathedrals over the last month but we couldn’t come to Burgos and not go inside this beautiful cathedral. It is the only cathedral in Spain to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right.

Burgos Cathedral - 13th century Gothic, modelled on the cathedrals of Paris and Reims.

The cathedral is enormous and from the outside the architecture from every angle is incredible. Inside you are dazzled by the amount of golden bling from the main chapel, to all the small ones that surround it.

Cloister Door

Main altarpiece in the central nave

Tomb of fabled 11th century commander El Cid

Ornate ceiling in the central nave

Golden stairway leading to the north door (Puerta de la Coroneria), that's only open during Easter weekend.

Puerta de la Coroneria, (twelve apostles) that access the golden stairway

Chapel del Constable, one of the many side chapels

El Cid's Chest

Behind the cathedral is a steep walk up to the Castle, which dates back to 884, unfortunately there’s not much left of it apart from the ramparts. This is largely due to when the French occupied it during the Spanish War of Independence early 19^th century, and before abandoning it they set of an explosion that destroyed most of the castle.

Remains of Burgos Castle

View across the city from the mirador del Castillo

Medieval Well remains intact – 63.5 metres deep, 1.78 metres wide that used to provide water for those living in the castle - that's a long way down!

We left Burgos heading towards San Sebastian, not having a particular overnight spot in mind. We headed out on the N1 and into Basque country, with beautiful views and scenery as it cut through the mountains.

We have ended up on an Aire at a little village called Oñati (N43.02742 W2.40495), on the edge of a national park.

Sonny, the motorhome in the middle of the picture. His home for a couple of nights nestled next to a Spanish motorhomer!

We didn’t know anything about this area and heading into the town we were pleasantly surprised. The University is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in the Basque Country. Work began on it in 1540.