After going to bed way after our usual time, we slept in until nine and took the lift down to the breakfast room, and had a really great meal. Practically everything you could imagine was available: a table of yogurt, fruits, jelly cubes, a table of meats, breads, and cheeses, plus a table of pastries, and eggs to order! It's a wonder we didn't waddle out of there, but we had a little restraint! We checked out and drove out of town using Google's instructions which led us around eleven roundabouts and north out of town on the A-73.
Burgos is a lovely small city with lots to do; we wish we had had time to visit the highly recommended Museum of Human Evolution and the Museum of Books! If we're ever back here we'll stay longer.
Rather than going straight to León, the next big city on the Camino, we're heading north to a parador built inside the Fuentes Carrionas Nature Preserve for a little birding and walking.
We drove on the N-623 into an area of high plateaus with limestone crags and ridges and deeply incised by impressive gorges cut by the Ebro river system.. We walked around a field covered with low vegetation and copses of scrub oaks which should have been very boggy considering the the amount of mosses and lichens we saw, but it was completely dry as northern Spain is experiencing a bad drought this year and this area is in the center of it. Still, we saw quite a few flowers - our flower guide is not organized by flower colors which makes it very difficult to ID plants - thus the unlabeled pictures!
Several areas at about 3000' elevation had tall snow stakes along the roadside - pretty frightening to contemplate, even on a warm muggy day like this one!
On the side road to Pesquera de Ebro we found a pull off with a well maintained trail overlooking a a beautiful gorge and then entered the pretty little village of Pesquera itself, which seems to be a destination spot as it had a parking lot outside of town filled with a bus and quite a few cars. We drove through the narrowing streets, found the church and on the other side of town, after crossing the Ebro on a ancient one lane stone bridge, decided we'd better turn around and head towards our parador as it was mid-afternoon. We drove west toward the N-627 over more high plateaus with occasional isolated villages and worked our way into the mountains to the parador which sits overlooking a reservoir with a distinct "bathtub ring" this year from the drought. We sat on the wide, crowded terrace with our welcome drinks, cokes and ice on this warm afternoon, as large family groups enjoyed their weekend outings.
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| Eurasian Griffon |
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| Village of Pesquera |
On the side road to Pesquera de Ebro we found a pull off with a well maintained trail overlooking a a beautiful gorge and then entered the pretty little village of Pesquera itself, which seems to be a destination spot as it had a parking lot outside of town filled with a bus and quite a few cars. We drove through the narrowing streets, found the church and on the other side of town, after crossing the Ebro on a ancient one lane stone bridge, decided we'd better turn around and head towards our parador as it was mid-afternoon. We drove west toward the N-627 over more high plateaus with occasional isolated villages and worked our way into the mountains to the parador which sits overlooking a reservoir with a distinct "bathtub ring" this year from the drought. We sat on the wide, crowded terrace with our welcome drinks, cokes and ice on this warm afternoon, as large family groups enjoyed their weekend outings.
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| A Castle overlooking a Village |
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| Drinks on the Parador Terrace |
After a short walk around the grounds, we relaxed until 8:30, the opening of the dining room. We, plus probably all the Brits in the hotel, came in for dinner at the same time! We had leeks with cheese, cod with sauce and caramelized rice pudding for me and beef carpaccio, octopus with garlic mashed potatoes, and apple cake for Bob, Octopus is a popular dish in northern Spain, but since I have recently finished Sy Montgomery's Soul of the Octopus ( a wonderful book!) I will find it impossible. The locals will arrive for dinner long after we're asleep!
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