Pyrenees Guide

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  Romanesque Art in Navarra

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  King of Navarra Coat of Arms

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  Medieval Festival

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  Leyre Valley

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  Medieval Galleries

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  Leyre Monastery

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  King Carlos III of Navarra Palace

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  Olite Castle

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  Exterior View of Leyre Monastery

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  Javier Castle Exteriors

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  Tudela

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  Javier Castle

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  Cloister at Santa Maria Church

Navarra Pyrenees

The Pyrenees rise up to the North of Navarra in a mountainous region where the visitor will encounter a landscape of soaring peaks and deep  valleys, shady woods and dazzling alpine meadows, ravines and gorges.

The Pyrenees Mountain range descends gently from East to West. From the border with Aragon to the Bay of Biscay, the climate changes from Continental to Atlantic and the landscape is transformed from the imposing escarpments of the Larra massif and the great reaches of beech and fir of the Irati forest to the perennially green and cultivated land of orchard gardens bordered by oak and chestnut in in the Baztan Valley, or the imposing plateaux of the Aralar and Andia ranges.

Blending with the charm of the landscape is the attractive rural architecture which varies according to the different regions: the compact town centres and narrow stone streets of the Eastern Pyrenees give way to the scattered hamlets of the slopes and valleys of the Atlantic hillsides.

The Pyrenees Mountains of Navarra are traversed by valleys formed by the rivers: Esca, Salazar, Irati, Urrobi, Erro and Arga, which flow towards the Aragon and the Ebro in the Riverside Zone, and those of the Cantabrian hills: Bidasoa, Leizaran and Araxes. The main N-240 road to Huesca marks the dividing line between the Mountains and the Middle Zone of Navarra. Lumbier, located 38km from Pamplona on the lower slopes of Mount Arangoiti in the Leire range, is the starting point for any incursion into the Eastern Pyrenees. Accessible from Biguezal, the mountain offers a superb vantage point as well as being point of reference for hang gliders and paragliders, and close by is an airfield for light flights. On the other side of Mount Arangoiti is the Romanesque Leyre Monastery.

This whole area is colonised by numerous species of rock-nesting birds, notably bearded vultures, and the griffon vultures that make up one of the most important colonies in Europe of this particular species. Before reaching Burgui, the traveller passes the heights of Las Coronas, crossed by the Canada Real (livestock track granted by Royal charter) de los Roncaleses, from where we get out our first sight of the peaks of the Pyrenees: the Ori, the Mesa de los Tres Reyes, the Anie, the Petretxema and the Ezkaurre massif. at the beginning of May, a river descent by rafts is held here, craft which half a century ago used to transport wood from the Pyrenees forests down to the Ebro delta in a tough and dangerous journey, whose navigation techniques have been recovered with the help of veteran rafters.

Pamplona and Around

Pamplona is the political, financial and cultural centre of Navarra. The old walled city, previously secluded, now extends across the Arga river basin and joins up with the surrounding towns to form a conurbation that is home to a quarter of a million people, wich is half the population of the Community. Visitors discover a dynamic and ooming city that has a variety of building stules, with largely modern architecture but also restored buildingsin the Old Part, diverse and thriving commerce, extensive parls and numerous meeting places. Pamplona is in the geographical centre of Navarra, and an extensive road system enables you to take trips to anywhere in Navarra, the longest being less than two hours by car. Pamplona is also, as millions of people in the world know, the place where the San Fermin festivity is held.

The Pamplona Basin, as the capital and surrounding area is known, extends to the foot of Mount San Cristobal, an area covered with pine forests and low woodland. There is an excellent view of the basin from the summit of the mountain, where an old military for stands.

Before reaching Pamplona from Roncesvalles, near the town of Villava (where Miguel Indurain, the five-times winner of the Tour de France cycle race, was born) travellers following the Way will come acrpss the Trinidad de Arre, an old pilgrim's hospital with a Roman chapel and bridge in a part of the countryside, crossed by the Ultzama river, wich retains a traditional rural charm. To the west on the Pilgrims' Way stand the villages of Cizur Menor and Gazolaz, both with notable 13th Century Romanesque churches. The first has a striking fortress tower and the second a beautiful vaulted portico. The route along this part of the Pilgrims' Way crosses the Perdon mountain range and passes through a wind farm that exemplifies the way that Navarre is investing in alternative energy sources and creating home grown technology that is currently being exporter to several countries.

Tha Pamplona Basin extends to the West as far as the foothills of the Andia massif, where the town of Arteta stands in the Ollo valley 22 kilometres from the capital. Here there is an interesting Ethnography Museum with a variety of utensils, tools and handicrafts from the rural life of Navarre. It is also the home of the spring that has made for its quality. Water was carried t the city in the 18th Century, not from this sping in Arteta but from another, closer spring in Subiza.

The aquedut still stands near the town of Noain, 6.5 kilometres South of Pamplona, and can be seen from the motorway. It is a strong and simple construction designed by the architect Ventura Rodriguez and is the most significant example of the architecture of the Enlightenment in Navarre. The Jorge Oteiza Museum is located in the village of Alzuza, 8 kilometres east of Pamplona on the road to Aoiz. The project houses a large selection of the works of the Basque sculptor and artist, as well as the house/studio where he has lived and worked in recent years. The Ultzama valley is 25 kilometres from the capital and can be reached by taking the N-121-A road as far as the Ostiz crossroads and then the N-411 road to the left. It is a short drive that will take you to one of the most unusual and attractive places near Pamplona.

Ultzama is an area of almost 100 square kilometres, and is colloquially called "the Switzerland of Navarre". The climate is Atlantic, very wet, and the countryside is rolling and green with vast fenced fields where Alpine and Frisian dairy cows, horses and Latxa sheep graze. The houses, typical of the Atlantic region of Navarre, are rectangular with gable roofs, plastered walls and ashlars on the corners and lintels, doorways in the centre and balconies across the facades.

Navarra Riverside Zone

The Riverside Zone in southern Navarra is an area of open plains, crossed by the River Ebro andits main tributaries, the Ega, the Arga, and the Aragon. Along the banks of these rivers a combination of large areas of irrigated land and thickets creates a characteristic vegetation pattern in a generally arid landscape where there are hardly any remains of the original pine forests. The climate of the area is continental, with average temperatures ranging from 6º in winter to 23º in summer, rainfall of less than 500 mm per year and the constant presence of the Cierzo, a cold, dry northerly wind. The region is home to an area that has some of the most interesting scenery in the Iberian Peninsula: Las Bardenas Reales.

Navarra Middle Zone

The Middle Zone of Navarra is a broad sweep of rolling hills and gullies with fields of cereal crops and vines that make up a land of transition between the Navarra Pyrenees to the north and the Riverside Zone (Ebro valley area) to the south. The region comprises two historic merindades (counties) which each have similar bioclimatic characteristics. To the east lies the so-called Middle Eastern Navarra, and to the west are the lands of Estella, the main towns being Tafalla and Estella

Crossing the Middle Area from east to west is the Pilgrim's Way to Compostela, lined by small towns and sights that form a trail of great monumental and historical significance. However, the region's interest by no means ends with the Pilgrims' Way, as there are many places of great importance in the history of the Kingdom of Navarra, and others of medieval origin that were built as defence against the Muslims and Castilians.

Fortifications and sturdy Romanesque and Gothic churches still stand, while numerous palaces and blazoned manor houses are to be found. The area is bordered to the north by the southerly range of the Pyrenees Mountains and is crossed by the main tributaries of the River Ebro: the Ega, the Arga and the Aragon. The region is connected by road from Pamplona, Zaragoza and Jaca and has a complex network of local roads, providing quick access by car to anywhere you may wish to visit.