Covarrubias
Worth an afternoon, better with a night. Thirty minutes from Burgos and a world away from it.
A Castilian village with medieval tombs in its church and nothing staged for visitors.
At a Glance
- — You want restaurants and shops open all day
Covarrubias is a stone village in a river valley south of Burgos, with a collegiate church full of tombs, timber-framed houses and the stump of a castle on the ridge above. It was a seat of the Castilian court in the tenth century and later the fief of the Fernández de Velasco, who are buried in the church the family rebuilt. There are a handful of streets, a river walk, and no pretence of being anything other than a village. Sunday afternoons bring visitors up from Burgos; weekdays are close to empty.
How it got here
Count Fernán González granted the town its charter in the tenth century after the Christian reconquest of the Arlanza valley. The infantazgo of Covarrubias functioned as an ecclesiastical and political center for noble women of the Castilian court who held lands and exerted influence over the surrounding territory. Later, the Fernández de Velasco family exercised their lordship here and patronized the collegiate church where many members of the family lie buried in alabaster tombs. The medieval layout and the stone houses with timber frames demonstrate the centuries of continuity for this administrative center which held importance within the broader struggle for the Castilian frontier.
Where it sits
The Arlanza river carves a valley through the limestone plateaus of the Burgos province. Poplar trees line the riverbanks while wheat fields and cereal crops cover the flatter plains between the villages. Summer heat wanes quickly once the sun drops behind the valley walls and winters bring sharp winds and frost that clear the narrow streets of inhabitants. Road access follows the river path from the provincial capital. Sunday traffic brings residents of the city to the town square while weekdays return the place to a quiet state dictated by the rhythms of rural work.
What to eat and drink
Castilian cooking relies on the oven and the hearth. Lechazo asado consists of suckling lamb roasted in a wood-fired clay pot until the skin crisps and the meat separates from the bone. Morcilla de Burgos, a thick blood sausage packed with rice, onions, and spices, appears on nearly every table. The province shares in the tradition of drinking the robust red wines from the nearby Ribera del Duero where tempranillo grapes thrive in the high altitude of the river basin. Tortilla de patatas remains a staple for casual meals while local sheep cheeses provide a sharp finish to the harvest.
Castilla y León: the whole region
The largest region in Spain, and the one that most rewards a car: a plateau of walled cities, Romanesque churches and vineyards, with Salamanca, León, Burgos and Segovia as four genuine anchors spread across four hundred kilometres. There…
Minimum 5 days · better 8-10 days · deep 2 weeks
What's Nearby
In Castilla y León
In Castilla y León
In Castilla y León
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