Camino Day 13 - September 19

Today was a big day for two major reasons.. First, a big walk of 26 km from San Juan de Ortega to Burgos.. Secondly, yes, I turned 40 today.. Feels weird even just typing it.. 

Today´s walk felt long.. When we approach larger cities, there is often a lot of walking on concrete or hard pavement.. This was the case today.. There were again a number of small villages to walk through in the morning, and then a long stretch of open walking without passing much. We had the choice of walking into Burgos through the industrial area, or taking a slightly longer alternate route along the river. We chose the river route, and it was a good choice.. We did walk the last hour or so in on and off rain.. That also made the walk feel a bit longer.. But, we arrived in the city late afternoon.. It´s funny to think that we left a hamlet of 19 people this morning, and arrived in a city of 180,000 this afternoon..

Burgos is a city full of history and beautiful architecture. There is a lot of history involving El Cid.. I´ll have to read more about that when I get home.. We are taking a rest day tomorrow, and staying two nights here, so we opted to stay in a hotel.. We are right in the downtown area close to the cathedral, lots of restaurants, and lots of shops.. 

After getting settled in, we walked around for a while, then enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a restaurant with lots of vegetarian options. Our view out the restaurant window was of the huge and stunning Burgos Cathedral. It was amazing.. Rob gave me a birthday card and two small gifts he´d been carrying.. Now guess who gets to carry them for the next month?! We ended the evening by stopping by a pastry shop to pick up birthday pastries.. I chose the ¨house pastry¨, which was a huge (and I mean HUGE) meringue. The base was dipped in chocolate, and the inside was mostly hollow, but contained a number of chocolate-covered hazelnuts.. So good.. I could only eat half of it.. Birthday meringue! 

It was a good and memorable 40th birthday.. 
And the scenery, the people, the food, the accommodations and the challenge of the journey itself are making this pilgrimage absolutely amazing.. I continue to be so grateful for this experience.. Once in a lifetime indeed!

blessings,

susan