A THOUSAND ROUTES THROUGH NAVARRE A THOUSAND ROUTES THROUGH NAVARRE A THOUSAND ROUTES THROUGH NAVARRE JAVIER PAGOLA LORENTE Gobierno de Navarra Title: A thousand routes through Navarre Text: Javier Pagola Lorente Translation: Traductores e Intérpretes del Norte, S.L. (TRINOR) Photographs: Gema Arrugaeta, Azpilicueta y Domench, Carlos Cánovas, José Ramón Carmona, Jesús Caso, Javier Ederra, Xabi Landa, Larrión & Pimoulier, Nicolás López, José Ignacio Moreno, Jorge Nagore, Paco Ocaña, Luis Otermin, Xabi Otero and Archive of the Institución Príncipe de Viana (for more details, see page 231) © Government of Navarre Government Spokesperson's Office - Communication Office © Javier Pagola Lorente Editorial co-ordination: Protocol and Publications Service First Edition, May 2000 First Reprint of the First Edition, August 2007 Design and page layout: Bega Comunicación Films: Ernio Gráfico Printed by: Gráficas Lizarra, S.L. ISBN: 84-235-2005-6 National Book Catalogue Number: NA. 2807/2007 Promotion and Distribution: Fondo de Publicaciones del Gobierno de Navarra C/ Navas de Tolosa, 21 31002 Pamplona Phone: +34 848 42 71 21 Fax: +34 848 42 71 23 [email protected] www.cfnavarra.es/publicaciones PRESENTATION Navarre has always been a land of a thousand routes. Its geograph- writers and travellers who have visited it. If you already know the place, ical location between continental Europe and the Iberian penin- this book will provide you with a compendium of basic ideas to help sula has made it an inevitable crossroads where different cultures, look at it from a new, more meaningful perspective. languages and religions have mixed. One of them is the route of The masterful prose of Javier Pagola, pervaded with the accu- all routes: the Pilgrim’s Way to Compostela, favoured by the mon- racy of an experienced reporter and the feeling of someone who archs of Navarre in the Middle Ages and which today maintains its deeply loves what he is describing, gently guides the reader and un- monuments, and above all the spirit, of the thousands of pilgrims ravels the knowledge, sentiment and magic contained in the vision and travellers who follow it every year. The people of Navarre also he puts across of each place. The photographs chosen will also bring have a strong feeling for this route and value it as one of our strongest you closer to the reality described. signs of identity. There are also other, lesser, routes —rugged and The book’s 24 chapters are 24 attractive proposals to get to know secluded paths— that lead to the farthest corners of our territory, different parts of this varied and appealing land. It is true that every- areas where an enormous variety of natural surroundings can be thing that appears in it is Navarre, but unfortunately not all Navarre enjoyed at their best and where the authentic roots of the Navarrese appears. The extent of the book means that only certain places have people are best preserved. These thousand routes are there for who- been selected, and consequently others have been left out or referred ever wishes to follow them and enjoy the surprises that Navarre to in passing, places perhaps just as deserving of space. holds at every step along the way. The aim of this book, dear reader, will be fulfilled if you ac- This book sets out to help the reader enjoy to the full his or her cept the invitation in each chapter to become interested in and get journey to the most prominent places in Navarre, whether they be to know the area described, or if you re-read these pages after vis- familiar to him/her or not. If you turn the pages without having vis- iting the place, where some of the routes of Navarre are sketched, ited the place described, the text will outline its history, natural her- some of the thousand routes that Navarre puts before you so that itage and legends associated with it, plus comments by famous you can delve deeper into its richness and variety. A THOUSAND ROUTES THROUGH NAVARRE Bay of Biscay Bera-Vera Irún de Bidasoa Zugarramurdi SAN SEBASTIÁN Saint Jean de Pied de Port PAU Lesaka Urdax R Etxalar ío B i d a s o a Señorío Arizkun de Bértiz France Elizondo Guipúzcoa Ituren Irurita Zubieta Luzaide-Valcarlos Oloron- Ste.-Marie Quinto Leitza Puerto Real de Belate Embalse Embalse de Eugui Orreaga- Lantz Roncesvalles de Irabia Selva Puerto de Belagoa Auritz- Orbaitzeta del Irati Burguete Sierra Aurizberri- Belagoa de Aralar San Miguel Foz de de Aralar Espinal Zubiri Garralda Mintxate il Irurtzun Ochagavía Mesa de los rak i o A b í o Tres Reyes R Valle de r i r t a E r Altsasu I Ultzama o San Donato í ío R R Isaba a sc Foz de E ío Txintxurrenea r R Sierra a Sierra z a l Roncal Álava de Andía a de Urbasa S PAMPLONA o rga í R o A R í Aoiz Embalse Tiebas Monasterio Huesca de Alloz Navascués de Iranzu Astrain Foz de Burgui R Puerto Monreal Foz de í o Arbayún U del Perdón Burgui r e d Puente Idocin e Obanos r r a la Reina Foz de Monasterio Estella Eunate Lumbier de Leire a Monasterio Eg Alto de Río de Irache Loiti Yesa Mendigorría La Liédena Monasterio Valdorba Monjardín Sangüesa Javier de Azuelo Artajona Aibar Pantano de Yesa Torres Los Arcos Larraga San Martín R í de Unx del Río o E Tafalla g a Ujué Viana Peña Petilla Olite de Aragón LOGROÑO Laguna Pitillas Río Ebro Lodosa de Pitillas gón Monasterio ío Ara R de la Oliva R í o A r g San Adrián a Marcilla Bardenas Reales La Rioja Corella Towns Cintruénigo Church/monastery a s Tudela le m i a e lh u Monasterio A Q Natural park ío ío de Fitero R R Cascante Zaragoza Castles Monasterio de Tulebras Río E C bro Shrovetide carnivals an al I mpe rial Cortes Mountain pass Navarre Gorge Pilgrims’ Way to Compostela SUMMARY RONCESVALLES PUENTE LA REINA History and legend ............................................................................................................... 10 Crossroads on the Pilgrim’s Way to Santiago ................................... 126 THE POWER OF THE FOREST ............................................................ 18 ESTELLA Monument and Marker .............................................................................................. 134 ZUGARRAMURDI Akelarre and Witches’ Caves ................................................................................... 28 MEDIEVAL MONASTERIES ................................................................... 142 BORTZIRIAK CASTLES OF THE KINGDOM ............................................................ 150 The five mountain villages .......................................................................................... 36 SANGÜESA ULTZAMA Frontier Town on the Road to Santiago ................................................. 158 Meadows and mountain farm houses ............................................................ 46 VALDORBA CARNIVALS IN DEPTH ...................................................................................... 54 Rural Romanesque in Mediterranean woodland ......................... 166 ARALAR OLITE The Sacred Mountain ....................................................................................................... 60 Gothic splendour ................................................................................................................ 174 OCHAGAVÍA PlLGRIMS TO UJUÉ ............................................................................................... 182 The Salazar Valley ................................................................................................................. 68 TUDELA AND THE SURROUNDING AREA .............. 192 RONCAL The valley and the mountains ................................................................................. 78 LAS BARDENAS An eroded steppe ................................................................................................................ 204 GORGES Wildlife and scenery ........................................................................................................... 86 VIANA and the literary republic of Yoar ....................................................................... 212 ANDÍA AND URBASA Common land of the Navarrese ............................................................................ 94 NAVARRE The land and its people ............................................................................................... 220 ANCIENT SPORTS .................................................................................................. 102 PAMPLONA The city ........................................................................................................................................... 110 List of photographers ..................................................................................................... 231 A THOUSAND ROUTES THROUGH NAVARRE he name of Roncesvalles (or Roncesvaux) was carried all over Europe through T the chansons de geste and pilgrims’ tales. It is a name which evokes the historical defeat of Charlemagne, the legendary fate of Roland, and memories of a Hospital which was famous throughout Christendom.The Collegiate Church had rich domains which, although much has been confiscated, have left us the legacy of a sanctuary which radiates holiness, a collection of buildings of great beauty, a point of reference for European unity, a welcome refuge on the route to Santiago de Compostela, and the renewed resources of around a thousand hectares of forest. RONCESVALLES History and Legend A THOUSAND ROUTES THROUGH NAVARRE .