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| 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 17th century baroque Hermitage of Trinidad de Cuevas. There
was a Trinitarian convent at this site as far back as the 13th
century caring for pilgrims.
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| 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 16th 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.
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| 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!
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| 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 6th 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!
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| 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 19th
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 14th
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.
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| Retable in Santiago el Real |
The present church is of 10th Gothic construction but features
an impressive Baroque portal with a 17th 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.
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| 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 18th
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 15th Century Gothic church
and we wandered around for quite a while and obtained stamps for our
credencials from the sacristy.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| San Bartolomé |
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