Burgos to Picos de Europa National Park (Day 4)
That morning we made it a point to wake up early to watch the sunrise, which we did after waking up to church bells from our balcony overlooking the Plaza Mayor. Luckily for us, our room had two balconies one facing the east and the other west and we could enjoy watching the sunrise over the rolling hills as well as the sandstone building getting lit up by the morning sun , without stepping out. Quickly getting dressed, we stepped out into the cobblestone laden empty streets of Lerma, yet to be awakened. We walked around till this beautiful town admiring the buildings and streets until we noticed people venturing out into their day. We stopped at a couple of churches and photographed the old Spanish architecture glowing in the morning hours.
Once we got back to our room, we quickly checked out and drove for a short thirty minutes to the bustling city of Burgos, famous for its cathedral, morcilla and asadores alike. But before venturing out we stopped for a quick breakfast at a panaderia/cafe where we met a fabulous Peruvian behind the counter. One of us who never likes her coffee with milk and sugar had commented that she had the most number of coffees with milk and sugar. Little did she know that's going to be her staple for the rest of her trip and she would throw away the idea of not having “coffee after lunch” down the window in a blink!
After having some jamon on a fresh baked bread sandwich and a few cups of coffee , we crossed into the main plaza ,bought our tickets for the Burgos cathedral and off we went to explore this UNESCO World Heritage Site. An architectural beauty that was built on a site of an old Romanesque cathedral. Its construction began in 1221 and was done in 2 phases over 300 years. It is believed that Santa Iglesia Basílica Catedral Metropolitana de Santa María de Burgos (which is its official name) is the first Gothic Cathedral in Spain and most definitely one of the most beautiful ones. Inside we got to see 15 chapels, a 14th-century choir, the famous Golden Staircase along with the Main Altarpiece and most importantly that we absolutely loved - Chapel of the High Constable. It's said to be one of the most beautiful resting places in the world with a star-shaped vault, marble statues of the Constables of Castile, gilded and polychromed Renaissance altarpiece. We spent about 3 hours observing and photographing this beautiful architectural marvel.
Stepping out from the cathedral around noon, we decided to stop for a quick coffee break. While walking around the plaza, dotted with restaurants opening up, we stumbled upon one with a chalkboard announcing their special, which happened to be morcilla. So we had to go for a morcilla and coffee break. By this time we were looking for anything with morcilla like a crazy couple because we had absolutely fallen in love with these blood puddings, Burgos being the most famous for these, we just had to go for it.
On finding out that the other churches in the area were closed from 2 and wont open until 4.30 or 5, we decided to take a short hike up to see the Burgos castle even though it was “temporarily” closed for a while due to construction. We took the long route to make sure that we got to see the Burgos cathedral from all sides and also stumbled along some unique wall murals/graffiti along the way. On our way down from the castle we were thirsty so we looked for some vermuteria to cool down .
We started getting hungry at about 3:30 pm, so we decided to go to this particular restaurant that had been recommended by quite a lot of people. We reached there at the end of lunch time, but they were kind enough to get us a table. Established in 1912, Casa Ojeda is reputed to be the Burgos standard-bearer for classical Castilian cuisine. We had the suckling lamb, jamon iberico and morcilla along with a bottle of cava. It was the reputed hand cut jamon iberico de bellota that has a delicious coconutty taste and we thought it was the best jamon so far.On our way back to the car park from our two hour long delicious lunch, we stopped at the famous Statue of El Cid and the Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari.
Since it was getting late and we had a lot of driving to do, we left for our next destination of Fuente De, a Paradores located in the foothills of the Picos de Europa National mountains. The scenery and the landscape changed quite dramatically half way along the drive, as we entered the mountainous region of the Picos.We wished we could have stayed another day in Burgos to explore the town more and explored all the small uniques churches along the way, which is also the famous Camino de Real . The Parador de Fuente Dé, a modern mountain shelter located next to the town's well-known cable car, lies in the region of Liébana in the heart of the Picos de Europa National Park. We had planned to see the sunset on the way, but by the time we entered the Picos cloud cover had taken in and completely covered the mountain.
After checking in, we went out for a quick walk in the area, to check out the starting point for the cable car since we had pre- booked the second ride up for the next day. It felt really nice to be out in nature close to the breathtaking mountains, breathing in the fresh and cool mountain air, and lullabied by the cow bells ringing in the fog. We had already decided that we would skip dinner since we had a very heavy lunch, so we relaxed with a couple of glasses of tempranillo and retired to our rooms. The next few days were going to be in the mountains and we were already dreaming of the marvelous, liberating hikes and bright beautiful days, fingers crossed.