When it’s a “Driving Day”, Dave is always keen to get packed up and be gone early so we bid farewell to Camping Caseres and initially popped Salamanca into the SatNav.
On the way (as usual) I Googled “Top 10 Things…” for Salamanca & Burgos – but after having O’D’d on museums, medieval towns, historic landmarks, Roman bridges, cathedrals, etc. especially in the last week or so (climaxing the day before in Caseres) – there didn’t seem to be anything wildly different in Salamanca. Dave was enjoying driving in the sunshine 😎; there was some cracking bits of scenery (check out 2nd piccie of the mountains & lake which reminded me of Switzerland 🇨🇭) so we decided to press on to Burgos (where our sister-in-law (the other Helen Miller !!!) had highly recommended the tapas…
We had noticed from time to time – as we were driving along – these huge black bull silhouettes looming over the motorways so I asked my bessie (Mr Google) what they were and they are known as the Osborne Bulls after the drinks company founded by a British family in 1772. They were first used to advertise brandy but today are a symbol of Spain known as the “Guardian of the Spanish Roads” as they sit on hilltops and roadsides watching over the passing traffic… (awww I luv a tradition, me 🥰 !!!)
After the piccie of the Osborne Bull, you’ll see one of a traffic cone (I can’t believe there’s no emoji !!!) and the reason for this is that the bleedin’ Spanish workmen had blocked off the right hand lane (fair enough) but had put the traffic cones on this side of the white lines and The Van is pretty wide anyway so it was a challenge to drive without running them over (actually I think Dave was just doing it for a laugh to wind me up… 😳)
We reached an aire in Burgos about 4:30pm (I think) and initially got the kettle & had a small snack of bread, ham & cheese as we wanted to save ourselves for the tapas later. I’d Googled a place but it didn’t open until 7pm so we got out the Rummikub – and the sherry !!!
A few hours later, we wrapped up well and trundled off on the bikes for the 11 minute (or so) ride into the centre. As ever, there were excellent cycle paths and it was an easy ride. The centre was fairly lively, lit up, shops open, etc. and we locked up the bikes in this massive square called “La Plaza Mayor” and made our way to Mesón Burgos. Dave had stipulated that he wanted somewhere “authentic” and this was a traditional small place with a long bar with bar stools & only a handful of tall tables and stools behind us but was very popular with the locals – who mainly just seemed to order the supposed speciality of the house – Patatas Bravas and a beer !!!
They “no hablas Ingles” so thank goodness for the Google Translate APP (!!!) on Dave’s phone so we had an inkling of what we were ordering which initially was:-
Patatas Bravas, Morcilla (Spanish Black pudding – see photo below), Chorizo, Stuffed Mushroom (delicious) and a really cute (again delicious) mini-hamburger – washed down with a Vino Tinto and a Vino Blanco.
We noticed the (Spanish obvs !!!) couple behind us were drinking something out of a martini glass and it was a Vermouth concoction so we ordered a couple of these to accompany round 2 of a battered bit of cod and a tasty pork skewer…
So for 2 wines, 5 vermouths and 7 tapas, the bill came to €27 – boom 💥
We then made our (chilly 🥶) way back to The Van, tucked up with a cup of tea, some Milka and watched “Olympus Has Fallen” (can’t beat a bit of Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman !!!)
