Camino Day 9: Nájera (17/03/15)

Nájera means “place of the rocks” in Arabic and this place name sums up the history and position of the town. Captured and controlled by the Muslim invaders after they entered the Iberian Peninsula and set up an Umayyad Caliphate in the years after A.D. 711, it was reconquered in A.D. 923 by a joint Leonese and Navarese army. This former Moorish influence shows that the legends of Roland and Ferragut, although mythical, have some basis in the reality of the long struggle between the Moors and the Christian kingdoms of Northern Spain. The old town itself is sandwiched as a linear settlement on a strip of land beside the Rio Najerilla with high sandstone cliffs pockmarked with cliffs behind.

In the 11^th Century its importance grew when Sancho the Strong, king of Navarre, made it his capital and the route of the Camino was diverted here from much more difficult routes to the north. According to Lozano, it was the first place to mint Christian money during the Reconquest of lands from the Moors. In 1076, however, it was annexed to Castille and Alfonso VI (developer of the bridge at Logroño) increased the town’s endowments, and made it an important stopping place on the Camino. Hospitals and hostelries were increased and Alfonso seems to have appointed St John of Ortega (more of him in future posts) to repair the bridge in the 12^th Century.

The most evocative tradition about Nájera and one to me which sounds like a story pulled straight out of C.S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, concerns King Don Garcia, son of King Sancho the Great (the same king who founded Irache). One day in 1044 Don Garcia was out hunting partridges with his falcon, when it pursued one of them into a cave in the sandstone cliffs behind the town. When the king went inside the cave to find the falcon, he discovered a statue of the Virgin Mary sitting on a “terrace” of lilies, with a bell on one side and illuminated by a lamp on the other. What is certain is that later, in 1052, after capturing Calahorra, the king decided to found a pilgrim hospital and the monastery and church of Santa María la Real. The first Spanish order of chivalry in medieval times the “Orden de la Terraza” was founded to commemorate this legend.


Santa María la Real

David and I entered the town over the modern bridge built on the site of St Juan Ortega’s. We decided that we wouldn’t stay in the Municipal Albergue, but walk further along Calle Mayor and try Albergue Sancho III La Juderia, just because we liked the sound of the name! We found Bodegon La Juderia and went into the bar to ask for accommodation. The owner seemed extremely surprised, but led us out the door; it turned out that the albergue was not above the bar, as we had expected, but around the corner near Plaza España. The albergue accommodation was upstairs in an old stone house and although clean, it had a quite dated 1980’s kind of feel and was entirely empty – no other pilgrims were staying there and indeed when we checked the visitor’s book later we found that there had been no pilgrims stay there since the previous autumn. This didn’t bother us as we were tired and fancied another night by ourselves. Our only concern was how very cold and damp the albergue seemed as we had the feeling that the heating had not been on several months. The owner was friendly and we booked an evening meal at his bodegon for 8.00pm and then he left us after putting the heating on and we closed as many doors as possible to the draughty staircase and other dormitory rooms to try and retain the heat in our bedroom!

David was very tired and just wanted to shower and rest after our long walk from Logroño, but tired as I was myself, I was very keen to see the monastery and church of Santa María la Real with it’s royal pantheon of Navarese kings, and since it was closing in an hour’s time, I made my way straight over to it; a shower would have to wait – I was not missing this important Camino heritage site!

In 1079 Alfonso VI made the monastery a dependency of the abbey at Cluny despite vigorous protests and the opposition of the Bishop of Nájera, who moved his seat to Calahorra in protest.

Monastery cloister

Access to the monastery cloister was through the gateway of Charles V and beneath the dome of the Royal Staircase which leads up to the accommodation of the Franciscan monks who still live in the monastery today.

Going through the gateway I was struck by the extremely delicate beauty of the cloister with it’s ornately carved cloister windows adorned with filigree stone decoration in the gothic-plateresque style. Plateresque means “in the manner of a silversmith” and was an artistic style unique to Spain and its colonies. It started in the late 15^th Century and continued for two hundred years and whilst a modification of gothic, combined Mudéjar, Lombard and Tuscan Renaissance elements. It is characterised by floral designs, festoons and fantastical creatures. The cloister had certainly been built at the height of plateresque fashion going by the elaborate cloister.

Unfortunately, despite it’s beauty, the cloister and parts of the church have been badly damaged due to the vagaries of history. The monastery was used as a military barracks during the Napoleonic Wars and was vandalised by British and Spanish troops. In 1835, during the time of Mendizábal, who closed a lot of the religious establishments, the Benedictine monks were expelled and the monastery was used variously as a prison, a public works depot, a theatre, a barracks, a school and incredibly, even as a bull ring! It wasn’t until 1889 that it was declared a National Monument and the Franciscan Order were invited to live there.

Plateresque Cloister doorway

In the south wing of the cloister is the chapel of Doña Mencía López de Haro with her gothic tomb surrounded by other mutilated sarcophagi. Whilst I was examining these I was delighted to meet Toby, who was just leaving the cloister as he had arrived at Nájera a good two hours ahead of us. He invited us to join him and Andre from our evening meal, but I had to regretfully explain that we had already booked a meal at La Juderia.

Chapel of Doña Mencía López de Haro

Further round the cloister was the better preserved mausoleum of Don Diego López de Haro, Lord of Viscaya. His 13^th Century tomb is decorated with scenes from his burial and his coats of arms.

Tomb of Don Diego López de Haro, Lord of Viscaya

Entering the church I was pleasantly surprised by it’s size and lofty vaulting. Built in 1422 in the late-gothic style, it has three naves and a transept. The impressive retable dating from 1690 has a Riojan Romanesque statue of Santa María Real and contains replicas of the lamp, bell and lilies that Don Garcia was supposed to have found in the cave and below the crucifixion can be seen a statue of Don Garcia kneeling in the cave with his horse outside.

Near the transept I was captivated by the beautiful sarcophagus lid of Doña Blanca de Castille y Navarre. She was wife of Sancho “The Desired” and mother of Alfonso VIII, and died in childbirth aged 18 in 1134. Only the lid of her sarcophagus remains but it is full of expression and pathos, symbolic of the grief of her husband who ordered it to be carved and shows scenes such as the death of Blanca, her soul being carried to heaven by angels and the slaughter of the innocents by Herod. Near the lid are tombs of the Infantes - other lesser members of the royal family.

Sarcophagus lid of Doña Blanca de Castille y Navarre

The most interesting part of the church to my mind however is at the back where in 1556 a Royal Pantheon was constructed in front of the famous cave that Don Garcia was supposed to have entered. The cave is still there at the back of the church and by examining how the vaulting springs off the cliff wall and by looking outside at the back of the church I was able to see how the church building itself is joined to the original cliff face and the cave has been incorporated into the inside of the church.

Outside view of how church building is built
into original cliff face

Vaulting inside church built into the original cliff face

Entering the dimly lit cave I found the 13^th Century gothic statue of the Virgin of the Rose accompanied by a candle and a vase of white lilies and sitting rather incongruously on what looked like a hideous 1970’s era electrically illuminated “terrace” with lily motif which I have chosen to leave out of my photographs! Despite this strange intrusion entering the cave was interesting and brought to mind the chivalric deeds of the medieval Navarese kings.

Inside the cave

The kings themselves are lined up in front of the cave in 17^th Century plateresque tombs and come from two different dynasties; the Jimena of Abarca, who governed the kingdom of Nájera – Pamplona between 918 and 1076 and the dynasty of King García Ramírez “The Restorer” who was father of Doña Blanca.

The Royal Pantheon of Navarese Kings

Returning to the front of the church, I sat for a while examining the retable and was just considering leaving as I thought that the monastery must be closing, when a guide arrived with a tour group and invited me to join them as they were going up to the gallery above the pantheon to examine the choir stalls. I gladly joined them and although the guide spoke in Spanish, she gave me a leaflet in English. As someone who has visited many churches and cathedrals in the UK and Ireland, I find it surprising and curious the way Spanish churches have the choir stalls situated at the rear of the church rather than in front of the main altar. This of course, I suppose makes sense, as it means the view down the aisle to the altar is not obscured.

Choir stalls with effigy of Don Garcia

These particular choir stalls, although again, much vandalised, were a fine example of the florid gothic style. They were reached by a spiral staircase. Constructed between 1493 and 1495 by Jewish artists under the direction of Andres Amutio and his brother Nicolás who were residents of Nájera, the carvings contain a wealth religious and profane motifs – geometric designs, scenes from everyday life, monsters and faces, especially on the misericords where the monks sat. Above the Abbot’s chair a magnificent effigy of Don Garcia in gilded armour looks down on the stalls below.

As I was leaving the monastery I again met Toby, now accompanied by Andre and Heinz, who had a whiff of alcohol and greeted me in his usual enthusiastic manner. Whilst vigorously rubbing his thighs, he explained how his quadriceps were “f---ing sore!” (Andre, ever the gentleman shifted uncomfortably at this and smiled politely), how if it rained he was taking the bus as he was “here for a holiday” and waxed lyrical on the fact that the vino blanco was only €1.00 – “so much cheaper than in Germany – yes, yes!!” I have to say I liked Heinz a lot as he is just the sort of colourful character I enjoy meeting on the Camino. I suggested he had indeed been availing of the cheap vino blanco and he heartily agreed!

Misericords

Returning to the albergue after this wealth of historical investigation I had to come back to reality and finally strip off and shower in the still freezing-cold albergue (at least the water was now warm) before washing my clothes and arranging them on the gently heating radiators.

 By now it was about 7pm and whilst taking a short rest, it was pleasant to watch the local children playing in the street below and be reminded that despite the history of this small town it was still alive and and hot yet turned into museum like so many places I have visited.

David and I made our way round to Bodegon La Juderia and enjoyed a good meal and glass of wine. The usual rent a crowd of local young people swept in and out again and the owner was eagerly awaiting the start of the Atlético Madrid vs. Bayern Munich football match to begin, so we took our leave, not being particular football fans and had a walk down Calle Mayor to visit a vending machine and buy some items for breakfast the following morning.

Santa María la Real at night

I decided to be mischievous and suggested to David that he guide us back to the albergue. A bewildered look of slight panic came over David’s face as I knew he hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings, but relying on me for navigation! We wandered aimlessly around the small town for several minutes. At one stage David arrived outside the bodegon we had just left looking lost and helpless and much to my amusement the owner came out and pointed us in the right direction – I am sure he thought we were hopeless! Passing the albergue door without David noticing, I decided to put him out of his misery!

Despite the cold our sleeping bags worked well and we slept soundly in another empty albergue!

My hat with arbutus from Montejurra
& almond blossom from Ventosa

Camino Day 9: Logroño – Nájera (17/03/15)

Parliament of Rioja

 

Old tobacco factory chimney

My journal records “Very long and arduous day today, although the weather was overcast and cool”. We walked the 30.1 km to Nájera in 9 hours and 7 minutes and we were already quite tired after our previous day’s walk of 28.6 km from Los Arcos. If it had not been for the fact that we had booked a guesthouse in San Millán de la Cogolla for the following night and therefore needed to reach our target of Nájera, I think we would have been tempted to stop overnight at Ventosa. David and I had to come to realise that a maximum walk of 25 km per day was about right for us and anything over that just became an unenjoyably hard slog. Certainly two days in a row walking 30 km was hard work for two middle aged guys like us, but on the other hand we did have a sense of achievement after we had done it!

Me at Puerta de Revellin

We slipped out of Albergue Check-In Rioja about 7.30 am after a surprisingly good breakfast of orange juice, espresso coffee and chocolate croissants from the vending machines in the foyer. Logroño was fresh and lovely in the golden early morning light and the mini road sweepers were out cleaning up as we made our way down Calle de Portales and past the Cathedral. Rejoining the ancient Camino route outside the Church of Santiago Real we were greeted by an elderly lady who shouted ¡Buen Camino! as she headed out for some early morning shopping.

David spotted some interesting horticulture magazines
as we walked through Logrono's suburbs!

At the top of Calle Barriocepo we stopped briefly to look at the Riojan Parliament building. The building has been the seat of the regional parliament since 1978, but it dates back to the 14^th Century and has many incarnations as a convent, military hospital, warehouse, church and even a tobacco factory in the 1890’s, the chimney of which still stands beside the parliament.

Pantano de la Grajera

Also near the parliament stands the 16^th Century pilgrim’s gate out of the city; the Puerta de Revellín or Puerta de Carlos V, named after the armorial shields that decorate it and we symbolically passed under it’s arch like generations of pilgrims before us.

Rioja's rich red soil

We emerged from the ancient city centre into the surrounding modern city with it’s wide boulevards shops and office blocks. It took us about one hour to walk to the edge of Logroño’s suburbs passing a military barracks and out along a linear park through a residential district of apartment blocks with commuters walking to work and children off to school. At one stage in the distance, we spotted our French friend Louis going into a shop to buy cigarettes and waved at him.

Logrono viewed from Alto  Grajera

Finally the suburbs of Logroño gave way to an asphalt track lined with trees as we passed under the A68 motorway and this continued all the way to the reservoir and nature reserve of Pantano de la Grajera. The track seemed very popular with the locals and many people were out walking and jogging or just chatting to their friends in the morning sunshine.

Approaching Navarette

At Pantano de La Grajera we met up with Andre and Toby who as usual were steaming along and soon left us for dust as we couldn’t hope to keep up with these fit young guys! Instead we stopped at the very pleasant Café Cabaña Tio Juarvi overlooking the reservoir, which we presumed provides the main water supply for Logroño, and had coffee and Magdalena buns. Whilst we enjoyed these we were joined by Leo form South Korea, who we had first met at Los Arcos. Leo told us that he was struggling because his leg was sore with shin splints and I gave some Ibuprofen. Apparently Leo was part of a fairly large party of pilgrims that had travelled from Korea, but most of them were struggling and according to Leo were now two days behind him. He was a bit concerned and frustrated that his leg was going to let him down.

Bull silhouette

We left Leo to rest his leg and then gradually ascended the 540 M Alto Grajera. This section of the walk was extremely pleasant through well-tended vineyards where farmers were turning over the rich red soil with tractors between the rows of vines. At the summit of the Alto there was a last hazy look back at Logroño and then a much less pleasant section walking along a wire fence with the A12 Motorway on one side and a sawmill and timber yard on the other. Many pilgrims had taken strips of wood and bark from the sawmill and fashioned crosses out of them which they had stuck in the wire fencing. It was a noisy and dusty section, but lightened by the bizarre sight of a giant bull silhouette that had been placed on the side of the Alto to greet drivers arriving in Logroño on the motorway – presumably a Spanish version of the type of strange EU funded roadside art you see in Ireland, much of which seems to be of a dubious standard!



Ruins of Hospital de San Juan de Acre



Medieval mason's marks

Things improved again as we descended through fields towards Navarette and crossed the A68 Motorway to Bilbao. Near the motorway are the small but interesting 12^th Century ruins of the Hospital de San Juan de Acre. Founded by Doña Maria Ramírez in 1185 it had a 13^th Century Gothic portal which has been restored and moved to the municipal cemetery on the other side of Navarette. We took a few minutes to rest and while David had a drink I wandered around the ruins and noted the different medieval mason’s marks on the surviving stonework. Beyond the Hospital, the Don Jacobo Winery with it’s giant wine bottle reminded us that we were well and truly deep in Rioja’s famous wine producing region!

Bodegas Don Jacobo

There was a steep little climb into the hilltop town of Navarette and we passed a rather overweight middle aged pilgrim who we had seen previously and whose face was literally tomato – red from the exertion! We worried about whether he was in danger of collapsing.

Church of the Assumption, Navarette

The town was well kept with narrow streets dotted with period houses, but not a single open café could be found much to our disappointment, because I for one was ready for another coffee!  Because of it’s position in Medieval times, near the changing border of Navarre and Castille, Navarette was the scene of many skirmishes and was granted a charter in 1195 by Alfonso VIII.

Town square, Navarette

The three aisled 16^th Century Parish Church of the Assumption faces onto a small square with a lovely fountain and modern sculpture of women carrying water and we went inside. The retable behind the high altar was the most stupendously ornate and elaborate construction I had yet seen! I dropped a Euro into the box to bring on the lights and was dazzled by the sheer amount of gold that shone back at me. It is hard not to think of the imperialism, oppression and slavery in the mines of South America that must have produced it, but it was still beautiful. David pointed out that viewing it with modern electric lighting was not really how it was originally meant to be viewed as originally worshippers entering the church would only have seen it glowing in the dim interior light of the church by candlelight, which would have heightened the sense of awe and mystery. Keeping this in mind, I waited until the timed lights went out and while David went back outside, I sat for a long time by myself reflecting on my walk and enjoying the dull glimmer of the gold in the dim light which was indeed more impressive and had an almost numinous quality compared with the garish-ness of electric illumination.

The retable

On the outskirts of Navarette we came to the portal of San Juan erected at the municipal cemetery and stopped for a break of cake, hazelnuts and a satsuma each. My wife Liz texted me and I suddenly realised it was St. Patrick’s Day back at home and gave quiet thanks for enjoying the day without the unbiquitous paddy-wackery tat of orange beards, Leprechaun hats and inflatable green hammers! I was frankly glad to be in Spain away from it all!  The arch itself, although much eroded, had interesting figures carved on it’s capitals including what I took to be St George slaying a dragon, or perhaps St Michael fighting Satan? In front of the arch violets carpeted the grass and I watched an old man drive up and visit the cemetery and I wondered about his story and mused on the transience of our lives.

Ceiling above the retable

Beyond Navarette an initially pleasant walk through more vineyards soon became unpleasant and dusty as we found ourselves having to walk along a very long gravel track right beside the A12 motorway. The track stretched off into the distance, the sun reflected off the white gravel and lorries thundered past. It was one of the most unpleasant stretches I had yet walked on the Camino and I had to dig deep, put my head down and press resolutely forward to get it over with. In many ways I have come to understand that the Camino is a metaphor for life – just as I keep going during the awful stretches beside motorways and industrial estates, knowing that somewhere ahead the flowers and birdsong will begin again, so in our lives when the going gets tough we just need to keep going, trusting in God that ahead we will reach the uplands of his blessing once more.

Detail from arch of San Juan

Finally we came to the end of the motorway stretch and turned off at a modern cross down a welcome bucolic trackway to Ventosa, lined with almond blossom and vineyards. Arriving in a café in the village we met up with Vira our Buddhist Nun friend and had a wonderful seafood tagliatelle and a glass of wine which more than compensated for our recent motorway ordeal! Vira herself had undergone her own ordeal; she was sitting in the café holding an ice pack to her bruised and swollen cheekbone and it turned out that she had tripped on the path at Pantano de La Grajera before she could stretch her hands to save herself, had literally landed on the side of her face which had taken the full brunt of the impact. After the initial shock, she said she was fairly philosophical about her ordeal.

Catkins near Navarette

Rosemary

In the café foyer I was interested to see a Podiatry advertisement on the village noticeboard. The prices for a consultation were certainly cheaper than in Ireland!

David approaching the end of the hideous motorway section

Cross marking detour to Ventosa

Before leaving Ventosa I took the chance to take a quick look at the 16^th Centrury Parish Church of San Saturnino and enjoyed its Renaissance doorway adorned with wyverns, mythical beasts and what looked to me like a Rhino?

Approaching Ventosa

The last two hour’s walk to Nájera were hard going; the walk itself across the across a hilly landscape of vineyards with some fine views was lovely, but we were getting tired and it was nearly 10 km from Ventosa to Nájera.  We climbed the 610 M Alto de San Antón and there was a fine view towards Nájera and the hill of Poyo de Roldán. An information board pointed out the main features of the landscape but also frightened me as I realised how far away Nájera seemed to be!

Podiatry advert at Ventosa

Rhino at San Saturnino??

Gradually however, we wandered on reaching Poyo de Roldán itself. Rather incongruously topped by the modern intrusion of a mobile phone mast, this flat topped hill (poyo means platform or podium in Spanish) is the legendary site of a mythical battle between Roland (who we met earlier at Roncesvalles) nephew of Charlemagne, and the Moorish / Syrian giant Ferragut ( who I mentioned at Estella). Various legends of the David and Goliath type fight exist, but in brief, Roland was supposed to have gone to Nájera to rescue Christian knights that the giant was holding prisoner. The combatants fought for two days (with rests for theological discussions!) until Ferragut sat on Roland who had realised that Ferragut’s only weak point was his navel and managed to stab him with his dagger.

Looking towards Najera

Information board of the same view

An information board with a section in English also furnished us with various fascinating (and amusing) facts such as that Ferragut was nine feet tall, weighed two hundred kilos, had the strength of four men and most importantly  as far as I am concerned was blessed with “a nose span of length”. According to the information board Roland had “arduously unsheathed his dagger and plugged it” into Ferragut when killing him!

Poyo de Roldan

It should finally be noted before we leave the plugged Ferragut that the Basques also had a tradition of a giant called Errolán who would hurl great rocks at them and in some versions of the Roland / Ferragut legend, Roland kills Ferragut by throwing boulders at him and so it seems that two traditions of giant legends may converge in this story.

Very tired now, we descended from Poyo passing a modern reconstruction of a stone shepherd’s hut covered inside with pilgrim’s graffiti and finally entered Nájera through scruffy and ugly industrial suburbs and residential areas. I had been looking forward to seeing Nájera due to it’s historical significance as the ancient capital of Navarre and resting place of the Navarese kings, but I was unimpressed by what I saw of these suburbs. However rounding a corner and reaching the bridge over the Rio Nájerilla my mind was put at rest as I saw the old town on the other side of the river in a lovely location, a riverside promenade lined with cherry trees in the foreground and backed by dramatic sandstone cliffs behind. Nájera itself turned out to be such an interesting town with one of the most evocative historical sites I have so far visited on the Camino that I feel it deserves an entry all to itself and so we will come to it in the next post.

Najera

Camino Day 8: Los Arcos - Logroño (16/03/15) Part II

Looking back at Viana

 Descending from the hilltop on which Viana sits, we walked on through some modern semi-industrial suburbs which finally gave way to vineyards again and we came to the 17^th century baroque Hermitage of Trinidad de Cuevas. There was a Trinitarian convent at this site as far back as the 13^th century caring for pilgrims.

Hermitage of Trinidad de Cuevas

Beyond this we took an optional route to the ornithological nature reserve of Pantano de las Cañas. A lake and low lying meadows here are favoured by wildfowl such as Great Egrets, but according to the information board the area was noted in the 16^th century for it’s witchcraft activity; covens would attend from all over the area supervised by the Wizard of Bargota and the “queen” of the witches covens; a blind girl from Viana nicknamed Endregoto. The poor demon possessed girl that St Paul exorcised in Acts 16:16-24 came to our minds.

Wild Euphorbia

As we returned to walk alongside the N111, we came to the border of Navarre and entered the small autonomous region of La Rioja. This was an exciting moment for me – I had had walked all the way across Navarre from that September day in the Pyrenees when I entered Spain with Matt and Ben. I know it is a relatively small achievement but I felt elated to enter a new Spanish region!



Entering La Rioja

After the border, the final section into Logroño became very tedious; we were tired, but apart from this, the walk involved passing under the modern road junctions of the city’s bypass through graffiti decorated concrete tunnels and walking along soul-less coloured asphalt paths.

Near this tedious section we passed near, but couldn’t see anything of, the archaeological site of ancient Cantabria; a pre- Roman and Roman town which flourished until the 6^th Century when it was destroyed by the Visigothic king Leovigild in about A.D. 640.

Eventually though, the path descended towards the city and we found a small lady sitting at a table beside the path where, for a donation, we could have our credencials stamped. This was Felisa, niece of another lady of the same name who in years past was a famous sight on the Camino. Felisa stamped our credencials and laughed at our attempts to pronounce tomorrow’s destination - Najera, and in a good naturedly way kept getting us to repeat the correct pronunciation, which we found found very difficult and sounds something like “naagh – era” where the second part of the first syllable is hawked at the back of the throat! But I am probably doing Spanish pronunciation a great injustice – no wonder Felisa laughed at our attempts!

White Storks

At last we reached Logroño; a modern tastefully designed promenade, with a Camino water feature and plenty of seats led alongside the mighty Ebro river. David recited the names of the main Spanish rivers he had learnt in Geography at school and we were delighted to see nesting White Storks on top of an electricity pylon greeting and displaying to each other with their characteristic bill clattering which drew our attention. A wide and impressive bridge, the Puente de Piedra; a 19^th century replacement of a medieval one built by Alfonso VI, an early developer of the Camino de Santiago; led into the university city which looked resplendent across the Ebro with it’s towers and spires.



Puente de Piedra

We had spotted an albergue in John Brierley’s book which we though had sounded interesting; according to Brierley, albergue Check In Rioja on Calle Los Baños had thirty individual rooms! This sounded interesting as we had never seen an albergue like this before and anyway a night off from David’s snoring in an individual room sounded attractive to me (I just can’t help putting that comment in for David’s benefit ;-) ).

We made our way to Check In Rioja which seemed to be in the slightly scruffy outskirts of the city centre and looked like a very unpromising small warehouse from the outside and certainly not big enough to have thirty rooms. We were standing outside vacillating and wondering whether it was a mistake to go in or whether we should try another albergue, when the owner swung open the door and pleasantly greeted us – we felt we had no choice but to go in and anyway we were now very weary!



However, we were jaw droppingly amazed at the quality of the albergue when we went inside – it truly is the best albergue I have EVER stayed in so far whilst walking the Camino! It didn’t in fact have thirty individual rooms – John Brierley’s book had made on a printing error on this point, but no matter, the albergue was finished to a very high standard. The owner spoke excellent English and informed us that the building had been a dance hall in the 1930’s and then had eventually been turned into a car garage. Her brother is skilled at construction and DIY and since they had a friend who was an architect, they had bought the building and refurbished it themselves.

The dormitory in Check In Rioja

The result was small spacious albergue which was light, airy and very tastefully fitted out with contemporary furniture and fittings. A wide entrance foyer with sofas and an open plan kitchen area, where pilgrims were free to help themselves to a variety of teas and coffee, led through to a corridor, off which were six individual bathrooms fitted out to a hotel standard.

One of the bathrooms in Check  In Rioja

The corridor in turn led to the dormitory, which was presumably the old dance hall, with high curved ceiling and was fitted with a range of single, double and bunk beds and another area of sofas to relax surrounded by bookcases. Large pictures adorned the walls and the whole effect had an IKEA / Scandinavian feel. What also impressed us was that whilst the owners could have maximised their money making potential by cramming a lot more bunk beds into the albergue, they had chosen not to do this, but instead had focussed on quality over quantity. We were also not surprised to find out that the owners were best friends with the owners of Albergue Abuela at Los Arcos, as it too was of a high standard.

San Bartolomé

Amazingly, no other pilgrims turned up, so we had the entire albergue to ourselves and were given our own personal bathroom each! A laundry service was available and after a shower and a rest, it was time to explore Logroño.

Inside San Bartolome

The city has a population of about 130,000 and is the capital of Rioja; I really liked it and enjoyed its vibrant old city centre. The city’s origins are shrouded in obscurity – according to Lozano, it may be built on the site of the ancient city of Vareia, but it was after it was destroyed by El Cid in 1092 and Alfonso IV ordered construction of the bridge, that the city began to grow. The city centre runs parallel to the river in a rectangle with the two main streets Rua Vieja (the old pilgrim’s route) and Rua Mayor running parallel to each other.

Imperial Church of Santa Maria del Palacio

We wandered over to the parish church of San Bartolomé first and enjoyed the elaborate gothic portal and sat for a few minutes inside enjoying the tranquillity. Then we passed the Imperial Church of Santa Maria del Palacio built on the site the royal palace that Alfonso VII donated to the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and I was struck by the strange architectural combination of tower and 14^th Century ogival spire so close together.

Church of Santiago El Real

The sun was already setting and we wanted to see more of the city so we didn’t linger but made our way down Rua Vieja to the Church of Santiago El Real. According to legend, at the battle of Clavijo (near Logroño) in AD 844 against the Moors, St James appeared in the sky riding a horse and turned the tide of battle in favour of the Christians and in thanksgiving Ramiro I built a church on this site.

Retable in Santiago el Real 

The present church is of 10^th Gothic construction but features an impressive Baroque portal with a 17^th Century statue of Santiago Matamoros –St James the Moor-Slayer – mounted on his stallion. The portal looks even more impressive when viewed from the adjoining narrow street. Inside the church was another impressive gilded retable behind the high altar and near the portal is the Baroque Fuente de los Peregrinos – fountain of the pilgrims.

Fuente de los Peregrinos

It was starting to get dark now, so we walked on to the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Redonda with it’s impressive 18^th Century twin towers – Las Gemelas, which face onto Plaza del Mercado. Originally the cathedral was built around an octagonal church – similar to that at Eunate or Torres del Río, but it is now a fine 15^th Century Gothic church and we wandered around for quite a while and obtained stamps for our credencials from the sacristy.



Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Redonda

Whilst standing in the main aisle I was pleasantly surprised to meet Andre who came up to me enthusiastically and hugged me like a long lost friend. I find it interesting how quick pilgrims develop a common bond as they share the experience of walking the Camino together and it was good to meet a familiar pilgrim friend in Logroño! Andre, Toby, Ricardo, Leo and another Brazilian were going to a Bar for food nearby that Ricardo recommended, so David and I joined them. Walking to the bar I was struck by the lovely atmosphere around the plaza with it’s interesting little shops and bars– as the sun set, the city was coming to life with families, friends and couples out strolling and chatting.

Inside the Cathedral

We enjoyed our meal together. The food was good and the company and conversation interesting. There was a lot of talk about why we were walking the Camino; Toby for example, explained how he had been engaged but his relationship had come to an end and as he was soon to start a new life in Berlin he wanted to take the time out to process the change that his new life would bring. He said he had appreciated meeting and walking with Andre who had a “lot more life experience than him” and it was good to see how Andre was obviously encouraging Toby with his quiet solid presence and friendship as they walked together.

Hat shop in Logroño

Finally, David and I made our way back home to our “private” albergue– it had been a very full day and we were tired!

San Bartolomé