Iter Facere

Tuesday July 10 - Saguesa and Sos del Rey Catolico

We touched into the ancient kingdom of Navarre today. As we drove to Sos del Rey Catolico, the birthplace of Ferdinand of Aragon, we crossed regional border with Navarre, and stopped in Saguesa. I forgot that Navarre in partly Basque, until we saw the street signs in both Spanish and Basque. We finally found the Turismo - the woman spoke English before we said a word, I guess we really blend in - and quickly saw the church of Santa Maria la Real, another nice Romanesque church. One Gothic chapel had been added later, so the Gothic arch stepped on the earlier Romanesque arch. The Turismo told us that if we got to the monastery at exactly noon, right after the monks finished their 11:30 service they would let us see the cloister. Off we dashed and we were at the monastery of Saint Francis at 12:00 exactly. A very devout man helped us get into the cloister which we admired for a few minutes. We didn’t feel a strong sense of welcome. On the way out one of the monks glared at me as a tried to make a contribution. Uncharitable thoughts crossed my mind at that moment, I’ll admit.
We walked around for a bit more, seeing some attractive buildings and then headed to Sos del Rey Catolico. Since Ferdinand was born there, he apparently granted some royal benefits to the town which made it rich. Its an extremely well-preserved medieval town. We parked and saw almost the entire town before we finally found the Turismo. Memo to the head of the tourist agency: Locate the Turismo at the entrance to the town. The Turismos are great though, the folks who staff them are invariably helpful, even if there is a language barrier, They always have good brochures about local sites. We find some of our best adventures come from going to spots recommended by them. Anyway, once we found the Turismo we walked around Ferdinand’s home town for some time before driving back towards the hotel. We intended to drive up the Ronca valley, but it was too far. We contented ourselves with the Foz de Arbayun and a pretty river valley. Then, the final attractive Romanesque church for the day, Santa Cruz de la Seros. Massive and austere, the widows and sisters of the kings and nobility of Aragon ended up in this convent. Unusually, the tower was open so we were able to climb to the top. That was it for the sightseeing for today. A quick drive home and dinner, followed by orujo hierbo. I now know how to order it thanks to our new bartender friend who was happy to see us. Clearly he mistakes us for someone from Spain.

posted by Jim @ 12:15 PM