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Atapuerca archaeological site

E

Eben Jacobs

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2019 will be my first
Can anyone tell me if it is worth it to visit the archaeological site near Atapuerca if I do not understand any spanish. I am cycling the camino so the extra few kilometres will not be an issue. I do plan to visit the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos.
 
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MEH will provide fabulous insights into the discoveries at Atapuerca, though you’ll probably still need a good translation app on your phone to get the details. The Atapuerca site provides, provided me with, a profound sense of “place” and an understanding of that landscape at that time.

The discussion in this thread may help your decision making: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...ca-excavation-visitor-info.68166/post-1267349
 
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I visited this site back in 2015. Yes it is a couple of km's each way, and yes the majority of the descriptions are in Spanish. But I found it interesting and back then it was free (not sure if this is still the case). If you stayed in Ages, and have the time, or if you intend to stay in Atapuerca then there is time. Cheers
 
it is, so is the museum in burgos. but make you visit the actual site, the one in Ibea de Juarros. not sure if they offer guided visits (all visits are guided) in English. give them a shout: +34 947 421 000
 
I originally planned to stay in ibea de barros and visit the site but instead followed the main route through atapueco - which I now regret. I would say do it! The museum in burgos is also excellent as it explains not only the site but also the archaeology and credits the archaeologists involved. The only downer was i couldnt find a decent guide to the site in english. With the cathedral +
Monasterio de Santa María la Real de las Huelgas, Burgos was the highlight of my camino frances last year.
 
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I agree with the previous comments, just wanted to emphasise the need to book the Atapuerca visits in advance, as they are popular. The first time I visited, I tried to book at the ticket counter of the museum, and there were no spaces left for the next few days. I came back the following year having booked via email. The MEH staff are very helpful, but in my experience, you will probably need to communicate with them in Spanish (eg via email or phone). I believe the visits are only in Spanish, but if you visit the museum beforehand, you can get an understanding of what you are being shown, as the exhibits there are explained in Spanish and English
 
If you can't get a reservation to visit the actual site, just before Ages is a visitor center, just 1.5 km from the Camino (and clearly visible from it) with excellent displays about the site. As I recall, the displays have informative signs in both Spanish and English. I was very impressed with Atapuerca man, and very glad I was not around there 900,000 years ago. Buen Camino
 
Will it be better to stsy in Ibea de barros, or must I stay in Atapuerca. Currently I am booked to stay at Hostel la Plazuela verde.
 
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No, in my opinion. I didn’t get in any of the same sense of place as in (for example) Rome, Cairo,Athens - and many other smaller or remote places.

The MoHE in Burgos is most certainly worth a couple of hours; but you’re unlikely to discover much you don’t know if you paid attention in school.
 
Also if you visit, the people at the counter who do the bookings also speak English.

I visited the centre earlier in May, and they do a lot of school visits; with busloads of students. whilst we were there (not long) there were two buses leaving and another two arriving and a class completing some type of field day experience out to one side.
 
I found it profoundly moving to go to the site even though I understand very little Spanish. Between what i could pick out, and online guidance, and attending with an Italian woman who spoke enough Spanish and English to help, and going later to the museum in Burgos, it was one of the highlights of all my four camino routes so far. I got that sense of place and human activity reaching so much further back than I could ever have imagined purely theoretically. But I also have a bit of archaeology and anthropology in my background so may be extra interested. I stayed in Atapuerca and got a bus out -- i recall there were English tours in 2018, but they didn't mesh with my timing so I did the Spanish one.
 
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We loved the tour of the site in Atapuerca. Our Spanish is poor, but there’s still a lot to gain from the tour. Do make reservations ahead of time. We winged it and had to wait a few hours to get a spot on the bus to the site—and we were lucky to be able to do that.
 
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