Burgos

Meson del Cid, Plaza Santa Maria 8, www.mesondelcid.es overlooks the Cathedral and the rooms in the main building can be expensive, however there is a modern annexe across the road and if you get a front facing room,some with balconies, you get a great view. As usual check out www.venere.com or www.booking.com for great bargains on room rates.

Burgos has an amazing range of places to eat and below I have given a good selection of the ones that I tried. A plus is that the norm in most bars is to be offered a small free tapas.

Meson Burgos, C/Sombreria 8, this is a Burgos institution with locals coming in for one thing and one thing only Patatas Bravas, which need to be tried at least once. They also do a full menu, try the roast lamb or suckling pig.

Cervecaria Morito, C/Somberia 27, has to be the best place in Burgos, it does Spanish Fast Food Burgos style for a packed bar every lunchtime and evening. The dishes with eggs, morcilla & potatoes and the toasted bread with solomillo & goats cheese are great but then so are all the dishes. It doesn’t matter how much you have eaten you cannot resist more food, the prices are cheap and the staff really friendly.

Cantina de Tenorio, C/Arco Del Pilar 10, is a lovely bar and restaurant with a great different tapas of the day. It gets very popular but it is worth persevering, there are some great tapas to order as well as raciones. The tables seem to be reserved most nights, a good sign.

Ojeda, C/Victoria 5, Plaza de Libertad, is is a bar, restaurant with an excellent reputation but pricey and a fantastic delicatessen, the bar is perhaps the least exciting part although it is very smart in an old fashioned way.

Bar Polvorilla, Plaza de Libertad 9, fight your way to the bar and get the list of tapas to order and then choose a selection and enjoy. The quality is as good as you would expect from such a smart place.

Casa Pancho, C.San Lorenzo 13-15, this is a very popular bar in a great street, it has a restaurant with a good menu del dia and a wide range of tapas, try the cojonudo which is either chorizo or morcilla (black pudding the speciality of Burgos) with a quail’s egg.

Los Herreros, C/San Lorenzo 20 is almost opposite Casa Pancho and has a really excellent menu del dia and also a great range of tapas at the bar.

In Vino Veritas, C/San Lorenzo 35, this was a real find, it is a very smart modern wine bar and restaurant with tapas to order that are works of art. You could easily work your way through the menu, also the wines by the glass are excellent. This place has won numerous awards and I cannot believe it is not rated higher on a well known site.

Restaurant Gaona, C/Paloma 1, this has the best brochettes of solomillo that I have tasted in a long time. Popular with pilgrims because of it’s proximity to the Cathedral.

Drink

There can only be one thing to mention in connection with Burgos and that is Ribera del Duero, the fantastic red wine that comes mainly from the province of Burgos.

Like Rioja the most common grape used is Tempranillo but this region only became commonly known in Spain in the 1980’s and 90’s and outside Spain even later.

The main differences between Ribera and Rioja are to do with the “terroir” or the characteristics of the land such as geology, climate and geography. It’s all a matter of taste but in Burgos it is best to ask for the local Ribera.

The historic centre around the Plaza Mayor is worth exploring, the Cathedral is a must to visit and there are other sites worth seeking out. Collect a leaflet from the tourist office to see the best that Burgos has to offer.