Obaneja to Burgos

Note to Roz: picture taken right side up.

So our albergue in Obaneja was a very tiny place. It had the only restaurant/bar in several towns so we arrived on Saturday. The Spainish love to socialize so there were lots of people having wine etc. We had chosen this place because it was close to Burgos and we wanted to forward our bags but couldn't do that in Burgos because there was no one to receive them as we had rented an air bnb. Turns out not many people stop there. We arrived around 1 so ordered lunch which was fried eggs, bread, slices of pork and guess what. French fries. Dinner was an amazing salad, the deep fried chicken legs and you guessed it French fries.  And then a commercial pudding. Not our best but not our worst.

We also got a notice that we had to register our passports etc for our Airbnb this morning so we thought we would go downstairs get a coffee etc and do the booking. Ha. The side door was left open and we went out the covered area outside.

Roz doing our paperwork for the Airbnb.

The albergue. It was of course Sunday too which became a problem as the day went on.

The road is flat. We are carrying full packs so not too bad.

The stork nests are huge. They particularly seem to like church bell towers.

Our first Camino graffiti  art.

This was just so cute. We had walked to Castanares and thought we could get some breakfast. It was Sunday. Nothing was open. We were told there was a restaurant about 40 minutes down the path. Off we went.

Walking the park path into Burgos. It was absolutely lovely.

The restaurant was just up the hill and turned out to be very busy so we had a rest and continued on.

Pavement kills us.

Some truly talented graffiti artists.

Then we were about 4 bridges about 4 km before we could cross the river and get to our Airbnb when we came across a medieval fair. Turns out Burgos was hosting it's first Burgos and El Cid conference/festival. There was jousting.

There were parades. It was held over several weeks and all sorts of things were going on.

There were markets. And banners everywhere.

At every bridge there are these archway that lead into the different plazas in the old town.

You can see the Plaza on the otherside.

We managed to drop our bags at the Airbnb and went to find some food. We were starving as we weren't carrying many snacks and we should have known it was Sunday. Roz loves tacos so we saw there was a Tacobell. On our way there we saw these musicians and belly dancers.

Now there is story that goes with this lady.

I was trying to find the Bano or WC and this lady was going up in the elevator so she indicated for me to come with her. She was hammering away in Spanish and I said I only speak English. Didn't matter. She took me to the bathroom and I indicated she should go first as there was only one. She went in and then comes back out yammering away and takes me by the hand and drags me into the WC all the while pointing  around the toilet and commenting about paper. She checks the men's then indicated I was to follow her. We went down the elevator and she marches up to the counter, I just shrugged my shoulders at Roz saying not sure what's going on but let's see what happens. She got the attention of the counter person over all the other customers and tells them something quite forcefully but nicely I think. Then she indicates we go back upstairs. All the while she is talking  to me. She looks at me in the elevator and kind of says you don't understand me shrugged her shoulders and kept talking. We get upstairs and wait about 5 minutes and a young man comes up with TP goes in cleans up quickly. The lady then shook her head in satisfaction and went into the WC. I waited and thanked her and off she went.

There are statues like this all over the old town.

Our first close up of the city. Thise tarps are covering booths of crafts people.

We met a bronze pilgrim.

We are in Burgos for 2 nights. Real beds, real towels and a washing machine. Yipee.

Some facts (from Roz)

We are in Burgos. They say we have now completed the "physical" part of the Camino. The next part will be "mental".

We have travelled a total of 286.3 km so far. A very small portion was by bus for various reasons. (about 35 km)

We climbed up and over 21 mountains, 18 of which were between 500 and 1,000 metres. The other three were 1,080, 1,120 and 1,450 metres. We knew the Pyrenees would be difficult the 1st two days but we really had no idea that the mountains did not stop for almost 300 more kms. Looking forward to some flatland!!!