A perfect excursion on Spring Time
Even in Autumn, walking to the highest of the hill, to the Castle of Monjardin is not difficult at all. Almost four kilometers in an easy and well marked road. The problem could be the rain, or the weather extremes from very cold to too much heat. Nothing of this happened to us. We enjoyed a very nice day for walking. Not hot, not cold. Just perfect.
Villamayor de Monjardín
A nice village on the way of Saint James, is in the middle of very important places such as Estella or Los Arcos, with its stunning baroque church of Santa Maria. Due to this, and the exhaustion of pilgrims when walking, Villamayor has the risk of being taken for granted.
Even more; people living in Pamplona can pass close to Villamayor, just in a rush by car going to Logroño or to any other place without bothering. So many times I listened to people saying,; Oh what a castle is on the top of the hill, but they never stop and visit the village .
A Castle with history
There remains just a little part of the original castle, but it’s an important place due to a fact: There, the King Sancho Garcés the first of Pamplona, fought against the Muslims. As a result, the history of Navarra changed. Here you can see us sitting down close to the sculpture of the King Sancho Garcés .
I’m looking for some information in English about this castle, but I’m sorry , I can’t find anything in English, so here you have a link in Spanish. The only link I’ve found is one with information for an albergue. It’s nice to have this information but I’m a little disappointed to find only this and nothing about the history or the heritage of this little as well as important village
Vineyard and a cute church
Walking around Villamayor de Monjardin is possible to enjoy the way with the views of a nice landscape of vineyards. This view is going to be with you during days if you are walking to Santiago. Villamayor is near to La Rioja. La Rioja is one of the famous regions in Spain where a great wine is produced.
The church of Saint Andres is made in a late Romanesque, going to Gothic Art. A church that’s always open, pilgrims can have time for praying in their way. Some Saturdays you can also come across some wedding.
Our visit to the church was not very long, we had to climb to the castle.
Anyway we paid attention to the beauty of the cross of Monjardin, a great workshop of silver working.Here you have a nice photo by Julio Asunción
An excuse to think how easy we can miss important things in our tours, just because we are in hurry, or just because we paid attention to big things. Not always big is the same than the best.
A nice day, a nice excursion, time to talk about ruins, rehabilitation, history and think about our way of visiting places.
Summer is coming, it’s a good time to enjoy walks, heritage, good food and friends.
Waiting for you in Spain !