Today we left Puente la Reina and headed to Estella. Dal, Helena and Julie were with us for their second, and last, day.
Puente la Reina (Gares in Basque) is notable as the meeting point on El Camino de Santiago of the two routes from France.
Tradition says that the name of Puente la Reina comes from the Romanesque bridge over the river Arga, which was ordered to be built in the 11th century by an unknown queen of Navarre. A popular opinion is that this queen was Muniadona of Castile.
The Iglesia de Santiago is the main Catholic church in Puente la Reina and is a late Gothic building from the 16th century which retains elements of the Romanesque temple from the12th century while the bell tower and altarpieces inside are Baroque and from the 18th century.
On the way toward Cirauqui (pictured on the hill in the distance) we walked past endless fields of Rape Seed and Wheat while olive groves and rows of vines started to become more common.
The way through Cirauqui is to walk up the hill to the top of the town, via the church (which was ringing its bells for Sunday mass – its worth waiting for the video to load) and then down the hill again on the other side.
Keeping our steady pace going we arrived in the village of Lorca, with its inevitable beautiful old church, and an ice-cream opportunity. At this stage the weather was holding fair and alternating sun and cloud cover – but never too hot.
We had good views of Montejurra (1042m) on the way into Villatuerta, where there was a huge church, up another hill, at the top of town. Montejurra is the first mountain in the pre-Pyrenees and its surroundings were host to to battles in the 19th century Carlist wars.
We arrived in Estella and checked in to our hotel – Hospederia Chapitel – before heading for some lunch and a stroll around town and a look at the Iglesia de San Pedro de la Rúa.
Tomorrow sees Paul and myself, back on our own again as we head to Los Arcos.
