One Night in Najera

The walk to Najera yesterday across the rolling hills of this part of Spain was quiet and easy. The town itself offered several special attractions. Perhaps I should give you an insight into the daily routine. Wake up at 6:20 or so, pack, get whatever is available for breakfast (always buy a piece of fruit in a market before going to sleep), and hit the trail. Walk, walk, walk. Then get into Najera and go to the albergue (the pilgrim hostel). Unfortunately, it was full by around 1:00, so I had to go to a local hotel--they gave me a ¨pilgrim price¨ (about a 25% discount--28 euros for a single). Strip off your clothes; take a shower; wash stinky clothes in the sink and hang them up. Take a nap. Now, it´s 2:30 and you´re ready to see the town.

Najera contains the mortal remains of many of the 11th and 12th century kings and queens of Navarre. The hotel itself was named for Fernando III who united the crowns of Leon and Castille in 1216. Passing the 9th century ruins of an early church, you´d see the Monasterio Santa Maria de la Real--a great fortress of a church and monastery that holds the amazingly beautiful tombs--carved stone coffins--of not only the royalty but also of their children. The church itself is built into the side of a cliff incoporating a cave where Sancho the Great is said to have see the Virgin Mary. The length of one wall is devoted to those children who died at early ages; one incredible stone box is carved with the 12 apostles and a relief from Revelations and holds the 12th century remains of an 18-month-old boy. In the cloister--a lovely collonade of carved stone--are the two crypts of Pedro ¨the Good¨ and his wife; they died four years apart, and their crypts are decorated with scenes taken from their lives. The writing and the carving on some of the crypts have melted away with time.

There was a wedding at the church in Najera that night. The wedding party set off fireworks, and the townspeople gathered for their usual fun and relaxation in the plaza. Najera is special because the plaza sits astride the Rio Najerilla; people strolled back and forth across a couple of foot bridges. Few even raised an eye to the long-abandoned hermit caves in the hillside. The wedding celebration went on into the night as I went to bed.

Today, I went to early mass in Najera and took to the road for Santo Domingo de la Calzada--and it all starts again.