Burgos Attractions

It lies on both banks of the Río Arlanzón in the center of the fertile North Castilian plain, under a hill (100m/330ft) crowned by the remains of an old castle. Although Burgos is a busy town with a good deal of industry, a visitor strolling along the banks of the Arlanzón, where frogs croak in the dense beds of reeds, might imagine himself in the heart of the country rather than the center of a city. The promenades along both sides of the river, with their cafes, offer the chance of relaxation after sightseeing in a city which has so many treasures of art and architecture to see. The climate of Burgos, with its long winters and torrid summers, has earned it the description (also applied to the climate of Madrid), "nine months of winter, three months of hell".

History

The origins of the town go back to a castle built in 884 by Count Diego Porcelos. In 951 it became chief town of the County of Castile and in 1037 capital of the united kingdoms of Castile and León - a status which it retained until the completion of the Reconquista in 1492. In those days Burgos was already a center of the arts and of commerce, playing a leading part, until the end of the 16th Century, in the Castilian wool trade. The town was occupied in 1808 by French troops, who were only driven out by Wellington's army in 1813. During the Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939, Burgos was the seat of Franco's Nationalist government. Burgos is associated with the story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as the Cid (1026-99), who was born in the village of Vivar, 9km/5.5mi north. His remains were deposited in the cathedral in 1921.