Burgos and The Spanish Way

 

The days start slow and build in Spain. There´s not much movement before mid morning and it's mostly older folk out on errands and shopping for fresh bread and vegetables for the days meals. During Siesta, between 2:00 and 5:00 towns are shuttered and ghostlike. It´s a good time to make distance; there´s nothing else to do.

At five everything opens. Pastelterias, cafeterias, peluquerias, vinotecas, tapas bars, restaurantes, helodoterias, cervecerias, bodegas - you name it ... it all opens. Businesses pull tables and chairs out into the plazas and onto sidewalks.

In Burgos by 5:00 Saturday the city center was in high hum. The young start the party and pull tables together and drink beer and chase each other around. At sunset families are out with small children and infants in carriages. By 8:00 things are in full swing and thousands fill the calles, alleys, plazas mayor and minor. The ancient are wrapped in furs and wool and pushed in their wheelchairs alongside great and great-great grandchildren. For hours and into the morning friends and family circulate, gather and disperse from tapas bar to tapas bar. 

Young people meet

And in Burgos on Saturday night, there are hundreds, maybe a thousand bars. They´re all pleasantly and comfortably full. People drop in with kids and parents in tow. There are many various and delicious hor d' oeuvres and tapas displayed in bar top transparent shelves. One of this, one of that - and a glass of vino tinto or blanco. With the group - maybe 6 or 10. By myself, I select two, and two small glasses of blanco. "Quanto le debo, por favor?" $3.50 Euro. $5.00 USD. Many wines cost less than a glass of water. And they're good.

Time to move on and see more friend and family. The turnover is ongoing and in minutes there's room at the counter to take another order. This is a cash business and no receipts, no register involved which drive northern Europeans mad because there is no contribution to the EC. But service is quick and the pace vibrant.

People stroll,eat, meet and drink all night. I went to bed around midnight and the street noise outside my third floor room was ceaseless. The hoots and laughter were only silenced by the Sunday sun rise and a phalanx of street sweepers.