Looking up

 . . . to the wonderful ceilings of Burgos Cathedral

and down to the amazing ancient floors

and those magnificent mighty pillars

and paintings and carvings

and cloisters

and El Cid's treasure chest, no less!!!!

I am no expert, but it seemed that every architectural possibility was crammed into this wonderful building and all set off against the beautiful white stone.  The attention to detail and the craftmanship was staggering - a well deserved Unesco World Heritage status.

And look at this lovely saint - I think he was someone important but for the life of me can't rememeber his name

So this was just 'morning one' of our adventure - the morning when we thought we'd get nothing much achieved as we were arriving in Burgos in the early hours and it was a Sunday - how wrong we were!

Next I'll be writing about our arrival at Santiago de Compostela, picking up our car and driving off to Muxia and our amazing time exploring the Galician coastline.  Click here to read on!!

(This is part of our Spain by train holiday in July - you can read about the itinery here)

first dawn

well almost - we don't 'do' dawn usually!  But as we were forced to emerge onto the dark platform at Burgos before 5am on the first day of our holidays - it was make the most of the present or sit in a (lovely brand spanking new) station for seven hours.  So it was an easy vote to go and see what Burgos had to offer on a Sunday morning before the other souls rose.

And as a result I am an early riser convert - it was such a glorious experience to share a whole magnificent city with a just few circling storks and a gently evolving pink light.

The whole holiday was so amazing and my pictures so many I was feeling a bit overwhelmed about starting this Spainish blog - but having read a lovely article in yesterday's Guardian - the "in praise of" column I always love as it's so postiive and enthusiastic and whackily British - that I felt inspired to start at the very beginning with our unexpected gem of a morning in Burgos.

The artlcle is here for you to read - 'In praise of . . .  dawn departures'

And Burgos? magnificent city, most incredible cathedral ever (Unesco World Heritage site) and pilgrims galore on their way along the Camino de Santiago

Cases safely stashed in a bus station locker, we wandered around this big sleeping city, over the bridges, around the cathedral and the old town and had it all to ourselves - apart from a handful of night revellers falling into a taxi from some Saturday night 'do', all in satin evening wear and bow ties!  At 8 when a cafe opened and the sun was beating down we had a great breakfast in the shadow of the cathedral (our first serrano ham and freshly squozen orange juice of the trip) and chatted to a group of pilgrims from Poland.  You'll see the light changing on the stone as the sun comes up and see if you can spot the storks!

he who would valient be

yes, we were in El Cid's home town!

desayuno

By now the sun was high and it was very hot under that clear blue sky.  We took sanctuary inside the cathedral which was just breathtaking - huge chapels, wall paintings, incredible ceilings, cloisters and all in the most amazingly smooth white local stone.

But inside the cathedral will be on the next blog post, which you can read here

(This is part of our Spain by train holiday in July - you can read about the itinery here)

there and back again (with apologies to JRR)

Well this is going to take me some episodes to log - the rekindling of a love affair with Spain.  Galicia to be more precise, in the North West of Spain with it's own language, own climate and own Celtic traditions.  The possiblity of conquering both another extremity of mainland Europe and another pinpoint on the Shipping Forecast - and all on the same rock!  This in addition to ticking off a sizeable handful of Unesco World Heritage sites!

So where did we get to . . .

Sat 7th

Train to London, Eurostar to Paris, Trenhotel to Burgos
sleeper Renfe Trenhotel

Sun 8th

Morning in Burgos, train to Santiago de Compostela, collect hire car, drive to Muxia

Stay 4 nights at Casa de Lema and this is my review

Thur 12th

drive to Tui on Portugeuse border

Stay 3 nights at the Tui Parador and this is my review

Sun 15th

drive to Santiago de Compostela, hand in car

Stay 3 nights at Hotel Costa Vella and this is my review

Wed 18th

bus to Salamanca

Stay 3 nights at the Hostal Plaza Mayor and this is my review

Sat 21st

train to Madrid and afternoon in Madrid, trenhotel to Paris
sleeper Renfe Trenhotel

Sun 22nd

Eurostar to London, train to Sheffield, bus to Grenoside

and these are some of the travelling photos of the 'there and back again' bits - the many stations, trains and buses on this two day trek across three countries passing the wildest uninhabited hills and the most sophisticated cities in Europe.  It was wonderful to feel the distance we were going both in culture and miles as bit by bit the trains clackerty clacked along all through the night and into the morning sun.

and if you decide you'd like to read on the the next episode of Spain after looking at these pics, then click here

Greeted at St Pancras with a flourish

first into the Eurostar waiting room

All aboard the London to Paris

Gare du Nord

and across Paris to Austerlitz - and a peek at the new extension

our Trenhotel to Burgos ready to board

fab dining car

arriving at Burgos in the still dark early hours of Sunday

what to do now

deserted Rosa de Lima, ultra modern station way out of the city centre

next train not til 12:12 - so taxied into Burgos, dumped our cases in the bus station and explored Burgos for the morning

back at the station ready to train it to Santiago de Compostela

good timing

a week later, and our bus to Salamanca at a lunch stop en route - 40degC and rising

6 hour ride from Santiago to Salamanca along the Portuguese border

and after a wonderful stay in Salamana we depart for Madrid from another ultra modern station

on this train!

comfy seats

and Mike planning what to do when we get to Madrid

passing the stunning, ancient walled town of Avila

straight to the left luggage, to dump the bags so we could enjoy Madrid

Metro to Sol

ultra snazzy again

new stations all round - this is the underground at Charmartin

and our Trenhotel to Paris looks to be on time

passing miles and miles of spectacular hills

supping Albarino wine with our evening meal

passing cities

and sunsets

to die for (and the blurriness was due to the train speeding up not the wine!)

finally reaching Paris Austerlitz

and treking across to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar to London then the East Midlands train up to Sheffield

Estacian de autobus - SHEFFIELD!!!

and the faithful old 66A home - but it was 5 minutes late!!!!

and if you want to read on - to our first day in the magnificent Burgos - just click here