//
Photo: Zarateman, CC BY-SA 3.0 es via Wikimedia Commons
Founded in 1187 and still an active Cistercian convent, with some three dozen nuns. "Huelga" in this context means "on fallow land": it governed 50 nearby villages, and was a royal burial place and wedding venue. Visit by one-hour guided tour.
The Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas is a monastery of Cistercian nuns located approximately 1.5 km west of the city of Burgos in Spain. The word huelgas, which usually refers to "labour strikes" in modern Spanish, refers in this case to land which had been left fallow. Historically, the monastery has been the site of many weddings of royal families, both foreign and Spanish, including that of Edward I of England to Eleanor of Castile in 1254, for example. The defensive tower of the abbey is also the birthplace of King Peter of Castile.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Mansion built in 1883 for a banker, and used as a summer residence by Franco, this is now a museum of Spanish literature.
Former church built circa 1300 and now a museum exhibiting old altars.
Story of human evolution, centred on findings in the hills of Atapuerca 16 km east where four hominid species dwelt, going back 800,000 years. Excavations continue at Atapuerca but there's not much to see there. The museum was built in 2010 on a gap site, formerly a Dominican convent.
Ornate Carthusian monastery, built as a palace in 1401 then converted, and re-built after a fire in 1452. It's still active.