The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-15
BURGOS.
THE EARLY CAPITAL or CHS
TIE.

Picturesque Places - The CastiIini
GentIeman-A Fine Cathedral.
Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.)
Burgos, Spain, Aug 1.-THE short
railway ride from ValladoIid to this an
Client capital was made in darkness
the earth. At Burgos station, for out
side the city walls a sleepy guard, witt
lantern III hand and sword clanking al
his heels, overhauled our hang-luggage
the trunks being retained for examina-
ton in the morning. Then we were
bundled into a carriage drawn by mules
and ratified away-over the wonderful
a old bridge of Santa Maria and under it's
towering gateway, in whose lofty Mitch
es mail-clad statues, of the Cid and half
a dozen other Burgolese worthless
seemed to grin down upon us in the un-
certain light; through narrow, deserted
streets, to the Hotel del Norte, where
our Jehu drew up with a flourish that
brought heads to the surrounding win
j
accustomed rounds, droned out the time
of night: "A las doce y NADIA. Qdalf
past eveven). La noche is clara Sc
rena, Ave Maria Sanctissima"
BY the way, who comes to Burgos
would better remember to make strict
bargain in advance before entering any
hotel Being on the main highway of
travel, all tourists halt here, and so the
F,,er ~ tp,111x ny
tortionate. If every article that can
possibly be required is not distinctly
specified, even to the bedroom candle
and necessary service, the bill--large
enough, in all conscience at first reck-
oning-will be doubled by interpola-
lions of extras" As to acknowledges
in the form Of vermin, the subject is too
narrowing to be pursued and 1.-The veli'
would better be drawn. Unable to
sleep for the warmth of their welcome.
/ spent most of my first night in Bur-
COS out on the balcony in the moon
light. Not far away stood one OF the
grandest cathedrals in Spain-so situa-
ted on the slope of the hill that its roof,
pinnacled with exquisite lace-Work
towers and arches, was on level with
my feet-the whole vast pile looking so
airy and delicate in the mellow radl-
ance that I half expected to see 1t float
away with the mists of the morning
Farther away rose ridge, hundreds of
feet high, crowned with a castle thou
sand years old, which was once the
city's glory and defiance and has
borne it's part well in innumerable wars,
down to the last siege of wellington.
These two landmarks, the castle and
the cathedral, standing over against
each other and dwarfing into insignifi-
canoe the ruined city between them.
are perfect types of the by-gone Gothic
civilization and splendid monuments of
the glorious past Soon an hour in the
heart of Spain pays for long journey;
and when at last / strove for forty
winks,' sitting bolt upright in chair,
as far from that bug haunted bed as
the walls would permit it was to see
fairy visions floating through half
dreams of beleaguered castles and mail
clad knights and beautiful ladies, re-
enacting their parts in the tragic ro-
nance of the region.
Your first impressions of Burgos, by |
"the garish light of day." are very dis |
appointing. The average tourist, COM
ing down through France, visits this
place first in the picturesque land Of |
the dons, and naturally much over
rates it. / say naturally" because all I
travellers know that first impressions of |
a country brand-new in their expert |
ence. take deeper hold of the magma
ton than any subsequent ones gained |
after the charm of novelty has lost its I
keenest edge. Having already spent |
several months in Spain, we are better |
prepared to give Burgos it's true rating, |
as compared with other cities. AT first |
glance it's newer commonplace houses
and white quays, stretched along the
muddy Rio Arlonzon, look like some I'M
interesting Missouri river town rather |
than the proud old capital of Spanish
kings one has been led to expect. In
the best quarters of the city all hints at
former grandeur have been long sue
ceeded by the silence of the grave.
Though the population is yet near for
ty thousand, there are whole streets APP
parently uninhabited upon the key
stones of whose stately but deserted
mansions are sculptured the arms and
notices of noble families whose pedi-
grees can be traced back in unbroken
series to the domination of the Goths.
In other streets the ancient casas are
freshly painted, in such gaudy colors
and homogeneous combinations of hues
that the beholder no longer wonders at
De Amicis' exaggerated description:
IF there were an insane asylum for
painters at Burgos, one would say that
the city had been painted some day
when it's inmates had broken loose"
But the brilliant colors do not conceal
the fact that Purgos is hopelessly a
back number" any more than rouged
cheeks and curling wig can renew an
spinsters' belledom. In
the mouldy market-place, surrounded
by massive arcades and balconies, are
many reminders of former splendors,
when bull-flghts and festivals were
held here, while the nobility occupied
the balconies and hoi polloi crowded the
arcades below. The shabby shops that
now range around the historic space are
sparsely filled with sham jewelry, Tole-
10 swords, rusty armor, old clothes and
similar junk, for which there seems to
be little demand as the shOp-keepers
lounge and smoke all day on the broken |
pavements outside when not in the Sc
.lusion of siesta. Dull, dirty and diap-
dated as we find it to-day, there is no.
where a more excellent type of Spanish
poverty and retrogression than this
once proud city of Burgos Without
trade or manufactures of any sort, it ,