Today we left Logroño and headed to Nájera.
As we left our Hotel Bracos a little earlier than usual (it was forecast to get hotter than yesterday in the afternoon) there was little to see other than the usual sights in a busy town.
Logroño has its origins in the Roman town of Vareia which was founded sometime around the 1st century BC. It is currently the capital of the Rioja autonomous community. Juan II of Castile granted it the title of “City” in 1431. He also added the titles of Very Noble and Very Loyal to the city, which still appear on the town’s coat of arms. This was because of the loyalty of the local people against King Juan II of Aragon as despite “war, injuries and deaths, and robberies, and burnings, and damages and oppressions”, the city remained in the service of the King of Castile.
As mentioned, not a lot to see on our initial walk out of the city, but we did spot a few ducklings in a man made pond and an interesting take on an El Camino direction sign, before getting back to see the all familiar green and hilly views.
We spent some time walking along the edge of La Grajera Reservoir, which was built in 1883, on what was possibly a small endorheic lagoon (or drainage basin!), to store water from the Iregua River with which to irrigate the orchards that were to the south of the city. There were a lot of fishermen but the canny Carp were hiding in a small shallow area well away from them – there was also a goose on its nest.
We were now on a gradual uphill climb as we headed towards the town of Navarrete – as usual it was the church commanding a view from the top of the town that we could see first. The land was becoming noticeably more covered in vines as we progressed along. Just before the town were the ruins of the San Juan de Acre, Hospital de peregrinos, founded by Doña Maria Ramirez in the Middle Ages to assist pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.
We briefly stopped in Navarrete for a cold drink and a photo of the impressive main church before heading back down out of town and on the road to Nájera. We passed the Cementerio Municipal de Navarrete, where the facade was moved from its original location, the old hospital of San Juan de Acre, in 1887 by a mason named Azpiri. The gate on the door was made by a blacksmith named Menaut, all following the instructions of the project drawn up by the prestigious Riojan architect Luis Barrón.
We were pretty much on a straight run now towards Nájera. The road became pretty dusty and was quite straight and climbing for long periods. Either side were vineyards – some old, some new, some completely overgrown, but all showing the rich brown soil of La Rioja region. After a small lung burner of a hill, we topped out with views down to Nájera below, and carried on down through an industrial area (still a dusty path) before arriving at the edge of town. This is not as pretty as previous towns on initial views, but once over the river the old town felt much more familiar.
Tomorrow we head to Santa Domingo de la Calzada
