Golden Stairs, Ancient Humans, and a Citywide Sing-Along
June 24, 2025 – After our big early birthday day yesterday, we started the morning of Burgos day 2 with what was becoming a very Spanish breakfast routine — although this one was particularly good.
Churros with chocolate, plus ham-and-tomato tostadas.
It was hard to think of a better way to start a day in Burgos.
We checked out of the hotel and headed toward one of the city’s biggest attractions:
Burgos Cathedral.
Three Hours Inside Burgos Cathedral
The cathedral only cost €5 for pilgrims, which felt like an incredible bargain considering how much there was to see.
And there was a lot to see.
The cathedral seemed to contain almost ten separate chapels, each one elaborately decorated and each with its own personality.
You could walk from one room into another and feel like you’d entered a completely different church.
We ended up spending about three hours inside.
The guidebook was incredibly detailed, and there was so much information that we kept finding another interesting thing around every corner.
The Golden Staircase
One of my favorite features was the golden staircase.
It was ornate, dramatic, and completely different from anything we’d seen elsewhere in the cathedral.
There were also five incredible stone reliefs carved into the walls, depicting scenes from the Bible, including the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
The amount of detail carved into the stone was remarkable.
Ashley had a different favorite.
She loved the Chapel of the Constables, particularly its spectacular star-patterned domed ceiling.
It was easy to understand why.
The Cathedral in VR
One of the unexpected highlights was a virtual-reality experience.
For €2, we put on the VR headset and suddenly got to experience parts of the cathedral in a completely different way.
The main dome has an enormous amount of intricate carving high above the floor. Normally, you can only see those details from a distance, and many of them are difficult to appreciate from ground level.
The VR experience essentially put us up near the ceiling, allowing us to look at the carvings from a perspective that would otherwise be impossible.
Another VR segment transported us to one of the cathedral’s spires, giving us a bird’s-eye perspective of what the world would look like from up there.
It was surprisingly impressive.
After three hours, we finally decided we’d seen enough.
At least for now.
Pizza and a Midday Break
Our next destination was the Museum of Human Evolution, but it had a break in its schedule and wouldn’t reopen until 4:00 p.m.
That gave us a couple of hours to kill.
So naturally, we went to get pizza.
We found a place offering a nice-sized Margherita pizza for €10.
Even better, every table had a bottle of hot pepper oil.
We poured some over the pizza, and it was fantastic.
Afterward, we returned to the hotel to take care of some chores, including laundry, and simply relax for a while.
Eventually, it was time for the museum.
And we had no idea how interesting it was going to be.
900,000 Years of Human History
The Museum of Human Evolution turned out to be one of the best museums we’d visited on the trip.
What really caught our attention were the actual archaeological discoveries.
We saw fragments of a skull dating back approximately 900,000 years, along with ancient stone tools.
Then we saw an almost complete skull estimated to be around 400,000 years old, again accompanied by stone tools.
Standing in front of something that had been made or used hundreds of thousands of years ago was pretty incredible.
These weren’t reproductions.
They were actual evidence of humans and human relatives who lived unimaginably long ago.
And then came the part that really changed my perspective.
There was a circular display showing how different human species and relatives had appeared throughout evolution.
I’d always had the vague assumption that human history basically went:
Homo sapiens → us.
I knew there had been evolution, of course, but I hadn’t really thought much about what came before modern humans.
The museum completely changed that.
I walked out thinking:
I need to learn more about this.
Now I want to read some books and understand who came before Homo sapiens and how all these different branches of human evolution fit together.
Not exactly what I expected to get out of a day in Burgos.
Wine, Tapas, and a Very Generous Bartender
After finishing the museum, it was time for dinner.
We started walking back toward Calle San Lorenzo, which had quickly become one of our favorite food areas in Burgos.
But along the way, we stumbled upon Bar La Gervasia.
It was busy, which is usually a good sign.
We went inside and ordered two glasses of really good Ribera del Duero wine.
Our bartender spoke very little English, but he was extremely friendly.
This was another reminder of how little language you actually need to communicate when both people are trying.
A few words.
A lot of hand gestures.
A smile.
Some pointing.
And somehow, everyone understands.
We ordered a toast topped with salmon, and it was absolutely delicious.
Then the bartender decided to take things a step further.
He told us he wanted to prepare something special for us — something he personally loved.
And he gave us a deal:
If we didn’t like it, we didn’t have to pay.
The mystery dish turned out to be a sandwich filled with Spanish ham and beef.
It was seasoned perfectly and tasted fantastic.
Needless to say, we paid.
One More Stop at Poncho’s
By this point, we were still hungry, and we were craving something a little different.
So we returned to Poncho’s, where we’d eaten the night before.
I ordered the same Cojonuda I’d had previously — a combination of bread, black sausage, a quail egg, and a red hot pepper.
It was just as good as I remembered.
Ashley tried a croquette filled with cheese and fish, which she really enjoyed.
But we couldn’t linger too long.
We’d heard about something special that happened at a bar near the cathedral, and we didn’t want to miss it.
The Burgos Anthem
We quickly finished our tapas and headed to Victoria Vermuteria, near the cathedral.
It was around 9:40 p.m.
We each ordered a glass of house vermouth, which came with a little stick of olives.
The vermouth was incredibly smooth and delicious, and we settled in to enjoy it. By now having a glass of vermouth was a simple pleasure that we had been enjoying quite often and wondered why vermouths are not a thing back in the US.
Then, at exactly 10:00 p.m., something special happened.
The lights dimmed.
Music began playing over the speakers.
The entire room suddenly became energized.
And then, almost everyone started singing.
It was the Burgos city anthem.
The words were written on the wall, so even though we obviously didn’t know the song, we tried our best to sing along.
It was one of those completely spontaneous communal experiences that you couldn’t really plan.
Everyone in the bar knew the song.
Everyone joined in.
For a few minutes, it felt less like a bar and more like an entire city had temporarily become one big choir.
The core themes of the Lyrics were:
Celebrates the history, strength, and heritage of Burgos and Castilla.
Describes the city as a “robust poem carved in granite” (robusto poema tallado en granito).
Expresses deep personal devotion and loyalty to the local homeland.
We were really glad we’d happened to be there at exactly the right time.
After finishing our vermouths, we headed back to the hotel.
We had another early start coming up, and after two full days exploring Burgos, we were ready for some sleep.
⭐ Day Highlights for Burgos day 2
Walking: Mostly a rest/exploration day in Burgos
Breakfast: Churros with chocolate and ham-and-tomato tostadas
Highlight: Exploring Burgos Cathedral for nearly three hours
Best Lunch: €10 Margherita pizza with hot pepper oil
Biggest Eye-Opener: Realizing how much human evolution happened before Homo sapiens
Food Highlight: The bartender’s mystery ham-and-beef sandwich at Bar La Gervasia
Drink of the Day: House vermouth at Victoria Vermuteria
Most Unexpected Experience: Accidentally stumbling into the Burgos city anthem at exactly 10:00 p.m.
Camino Lesson: Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you didn’t know you were looking for. We went into the Human Evolution Museum expecting a museum visit and came out wanting to learn about hundreds of thousands of years of human history.
