Burgos

On the banks of the Arlanzón River is this small city with some of Spain's most outstanding medieval architecture. The first signs of Burgos, if you approach on the A1 from Madrid, are the spiky twin spires of its cathedral, rising above the main bridge. Burgos's second glory is its heritage as the city of El Cid, the part-historical, part-mythical hero of the Christian Reconquest of Spain. The city has been known for centuries as a center of both militarism and religion, and even today you can see more nuns on its streets than almost anywhere else in Spain. Burgos was born as a military camp in 884—a fortress built on the orders of the Christian king Alfonso III, who was having a hard time defending the upper reaches of Old Castile from the constant forays of the Arabs. It quickly became vital in the defense of Christian Spain, and its identity as an early outpost of Christianity was sealed with the founding of the Royal Convent of Las Huelgas, in 1187. Burgos also became a place of rest and sustenance for Christian pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.