My Journey to Santiago de Compostela Part XIV

Amanda, Susanne and I met before dawn at the AirBnb apartment where they were staying and headed for the forest on our way to the city of Burgos.  We found the right place for our meditation at the summit located at Matagrande, where lied a gigantic cross and not too far from a fabulous view of Burgos.  While we listened to the meditation on YouTube, we could sense that some pilgrims were walking by but fortunately they were very considerate and lowered their voices while they passed by.  One of them even joined us in the final stage of our guided meditation and another pilgrim took a picture of us three.  She met Susanne a few days later and after she recognized her, offered to send her a copy of the picture.

After crossing the towns of Villafria and Gamonal, we finalized our descent to Burgos, the third largest city on the Camino Frances and the head of the region of Castilla y Leon.  To enter the city, we went through Parque de Fuentes Blancas and walked alongside the Arlanzon River.  We missed the opportunity to visit La Cartuja de Miraflores, the famous monastery built in 1401 by Enrique the Third.  Art, Kim and Peter who visited the monastery told us about it.  Now I have something to look forward to on my next visit to Burgos.

Entering the city of Burgos was quite a different feeling after four days of crossing and staying in small towns.  The urban crowd was quite overwhelming and city traffic was not something we really missed.  But the beauty of the cathedral and the surrounding buildings and monuments were worth visiting.  Since we arrived quite early, I decided to only spend one night in Burgos and start walking again the next day.  Susanne and Amanda stayed an extra day so we said farewell to each other.  Although we kept in touch via Whatsapp the rest of the Camino, we never met again.

That evening, I had dinner with Art, Kim and Peter and a new friend from Germany.  We had delicious tapas at a wonderful place close by the cathedral.

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