Yesterday at the Bardenas Reales Information Centre, a
screen showed the weather forecast for the next week and it looked great – sun,
warmth and absolutely no chance of rain for the rest of the trip. However, it
neglected to mention fog and that was we woke up to this morning.
Wearing fleeces, we went into the town and spent a happy
hour and a half wandering around the streets, discovering a large section of
the town that we had missed the previous evening. That included the castle (I
am sure that the views are superb when you can see them) and San Esteban
church. Building of the church started in 1055 and it was completed in the 12th
century. Entering the church we saw a beautifully carved wooden Christ on the
cross (Christ of Forgiveness), which was created in the 12th Century
and has an elongated face typical of that period. I would dearly liked to have
a photograph of that but there was a strict ‘no photographs’ rule rather than
just the common ‘no flash’ rule. The same applied to the unusual 18th
century organ that appeared to be in good condition, beautifully painted and
unrestored. We also saw the 12th Century font where Ferdinand the
Catholic was baptised. The crypt involved a long, narrow, spiral staircase but
was well worth the effort. Here there were 11th century stone carved
capitals and well preserved 14th century murals. We weren’t
expecting much to see in the church but were very pleased that we had decided
to visit.
The fog still hadn’t cleared so, rather than head for Leyre
monastery that we suspected was in the hills and probably fog-bound, we decided
to go to Sanguesa. There was some interesting architecture in the town and
having heard that the Navarra cuisine is supposed to be the best in Spain, we
wanted to try some.
Sos del Rey Catolico is a hill town and as we descended from
it the mist started to thin a little. As we approached Sanguesa the sun broke
through and it became a very pleasant day. As always, we wandered around,
finding the pleasant river Aragon and a couple of interesting churches (always
churches) and then we found the ‘Ciudad de Sanguesa’ restaurant that served
only a ‘menu of the day’ at lunchtime. There were at least six choices for each
of the three courses and wine, bread and water, all for €12 (£9). Not only was
it very good value but it was delicious. The highlights were the starters – a
seafood mouse and a mixed seafood pasta, but it was all first class.
We decided that we could fit in a visit to the castle at
Javier, which has an interesting history. It started life as a 10th
Century tower and was expanded to a full castle in the 14th Century
and in 1506 the patron saint of Navarra, Francis Javier, was born there. The
castle fell into ruin and was abandoned until the 20th Century when
it was taken over by Franciscans who restored it and built a monastery next to
it. The castle church marks the spot where Saint Francis Javier was born as the
son of the wealthy castle owners. He went on to be a missionary, travelling to
India, the Far East, Indonesia, Japan and China. He died in China in 1552, was
buried in India and canonised in 1622. The 10th century tower is
still intact but most of the castle has been rebuilt, although it is still
interesting to visit as it houses a museum showing the life of the saint and
there were good views from the battlements.
We had a choice of overnight stops – Tafalla or Falces but
we liked the look of the aire at Falces and the fact that it had a Roman Villa
on the outskirts made the decision easy. We travelled over some high hills and
as we approached the summit of one, tendrils of mist spread over and down our
side. As soon as we reached the top we entered the fog that had probably been
there all day. The fog soon lifted but night had fallen by the time that we
arrived at Falces. We settled down for a very light tea and got out the books.
Photos: A Sos street by day; The church of Santa Maria la
Real in Sanguesa; Detail of the carving around its door – it is Judgement Day
and this is Hell; The River Aragon at Sanguesa; Javier Castle.
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