Burgos Day Off

It is wonderful to have the day off in beautiful Burgos.

This magnificent statue is El Cid.  El Cid was a Spanish nobleman who fought the Moors. The Moors called him El Cid which means "The Lord" and the Christians called him El Campeador which means the one who stands out in battle.  He is a very popular folk hero in Spain.  He was born very near Burgos.

The back side of the Cathedral.  I was lost and managed to find the cathedral and locate our hotel.  

As I was lost, I stumbled into a nail salon...run by Vietnamese.  Somethings never chance, even in a different country. I got a much needed manicure.  Whew.  I am still a girl afterall.  It was a good one too.  At least if they had found me wandering the streets days later my nails would have looked nice.

Dennis saw the blog photos and wanted to visit the Cathedral so I went back.  I took a little more time since I wore my wool shirt and a jacket so as not to freeze.  I took more photos and I will share some with you.  It is truly an impressive Cathedral.

I could see through to another chapel and there was an on-going mass. Judging by the number of priests...it was clearly a cathedral of value.

I love stained glass windows.

Never forget to look up in a Spanish Cathedral.

The rest of the photos are in the cloister which was more elaborate than many churches in the world.

Dennis and I liked this priest or cardinal because he had a dog at his feet.

This is the coffin of El Cid.  The actual coffin.  I don't think the bones were in there.

So, I bet I could run a contest for a caption for this painting! 

El Cid above and a modern day El Cid below.

Burgos has fabulous statues.  This one depicts an old woman roasting chestnuts which I have purchased many times in squares in Europe.  I would have so bought some but it must be the wrong season.

Lunch was two different and interesting tortillas.  The one on the left has a fried egg, chorizo and cheese sandwiched between the layers of egg/potato mixture.  Dennis remembered the hot sauce.  We Southern girls could teach the Spaniards something.  The one on the right was filled with tuna salad, lettuce and tomatoes.

And of course if you want atmosphere, you must have music.  I love European accordion music.  It is so gypsy sounding.  I would much rather donate my money to someone working for a living than the whiney (I hate whiney) beggars at the Cathedral.  I have paid musicians all over Europe. And been well rewarded with beautiful music.

I went to the Santa Maria museum and in the lobby was this El Cid painting.  It was about 25 feet by 20 feet.

Right in the middle of the historic district with all the very old medieval buildings was the public library.  

Not sure about the one on the left. but we were quite concerned at how fast we are approaching the look of the one on the right.

This is a live hawk, right in the middle of the city.  

And one last statue.  I was considering diving into this pool of water.  Burgos has been the city of extremes for us.  I almost froze to death in the Cathedral de Burgos and our hotel room is about ninety degrees.  Spain is now having extreme high temperatures for this time of year and the hotel has not turned on the air conditioning.