To Eunate and Ciraqui

2006

On September 4, 2006 we walked to Eunate 

through gorgeous fields of sunflowers, asparagus, and grapes.

Eunate is a small octagonal church which is one of the most important Romanesque monuments in Navarra. 

The name is Basque and means 

"house of 100 doors."

The church is commonly associated with the Knights Templar,

mostly because of its octogonal shape. 

Graves with scallp shells, 

presumably from pilgrims,

have been found around the church.

There is some talk the church may have been built

as a burial chapel by a locally prominant family 

in the late 1500's.

It's definitely worth the detour

to see, if you have the stamina 

and desire.

At one point in the not too distant past, 

there was an albergue here,

but it has closed,

due to local politics, 

and nobody seems to know for sure

if it will reopen.

From Eunate, we walked on to Obanos, where we stopped for a coffee.

Obanos is at the junction of the 2 main routes to Santiago, and this town, in the Middle Ages, controlled several churches and hospices. Obanos is also famous for its mystery play dedicated to Saints Gullermo and Felicia, performed since 1965 on the Sunday following Corpus Cristi each year.

The church of San JuanBautista contains Guillermo's skull, encased in silver. When his tomb was opened, a Santiago medal was found among his bones. 

On the day we arrived, 

a young girl about 10 years old was giving out sellos.

We took a shady rest,

then continued on.

In Puente la Reina we used the Internet (locaturia) 

and stocked up on Compeed.

Then in the heat, we kept walking...

Iglesia del Crucifijo

About 1 kilometer out of town, Joe realized he had left his glasses.

I stayed with the packs under a shaded overpass while he walked back to retrieve them.

From there, we continued on through vineyards and dusty road
 to Ciraqui 

where we stayed at Albergue Maralotx.

This was a very nice albergue where they served us

 the best dinner we'd had to date 

in the cool bodega-like cellar below the albergue.

2012

September

Wonderful standing stones

2013

May/June

The wildflowers in Spring are crazy bright!

Almost to Ciraqui

This year, instead of walking all the way through Ciraqui, I took the option to turn right and walk the road. This took me to a sweet little restaurant Los Calzadores.  Here, I had breakfast, then continued on the road until it met up with the Camino.

Right after this Restaurant is a park with picnic tables. This would be a great place to pitch a tent if you were camping. There was literally no traffic on the road when I walked.

2015 - Autumn
Gretchen and Sharon walking roman road outside Ciraqui




Click here for a post I wrote about the history of Ciraqui:About Ciraqui