Episode 26

Episode 26
Still heading south we discovered after studying the map that we are basically heading in the general direction of Lourdes so we might as well call in there. On the way we passed through a small area of vineyards and apple orchards. All the apple trees are going on trellises. This was in the general area of Auch. Each time we came into a town it started to rain heavy then it would clear and the sun come out when we were out in the country again.
It was a sunny but chilly day that we spent in Lourdes: This city sits in the foot hills of the Pyrenees Mountains, and above the town the high peaks had snow on them. The town centre is much more attractive than all the other cities we have passed through in France. I suppose the fact that the place has around 6 million visitors annually might have some bearing on the way it presents itself. Perhaps the city fathers encourage the use of paint, they also need to encourage the use of the ‘doggy do’ bag as a walk around the streets involves a ‘doggy quick step’ to avoid that ‘doggy do’.
Of course the main reason so many visitors come here is because of its religious significance especially for Catholics. In 1858 a young girl by the name of Bernadette claimed that she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in a small cave. Above that cave a Basilica has been built though the cave sits below the wall and is open for all who wish to visit it. As caves go its not very large or impressive; quite a shallow open cavern really. There was a spring running through it but the water from it has been diverted and feeds many taps where you can have a drink or a wash in the ‘holy water’, if you so desire. We each had a couple of mouthfuls but didn’t experience any miracle cure.
The Rosary Basilica stands at the end of a large open plaza and atop the cave. As you come from the town you approach across the plaza and as you do so some very impressive mosaic tile murals confront you. They look very new and are of religious scenes mainly with Jesus as the central figure. The Basilica has a central dome and on top of that is a huge gold crown, behind that is the entrance to the crypt that you reach by going up some steps onto the roof of the Basilica, then on top of that crypt is another Basilica, The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. To one side of the crypt and almost directly above the cave is a small Chapel where mass is held frequently and in several different languages.
Inside the Rosary Basilica we found that all the walls and the dome, the roof and the inside of the archways are covered in murals made of tiny mosaic tiles. From the transept around the Nave to the other side of the transept a series of panels depicted the life of Jesus including the crucifixion and his ascension into heaven. This dome is the one that is topped with a gold crown on the outside.
The crypt has a number of tombs in it and the other basilica is quite plane compared to the first. It is smaller but has twin towers in front and a central spire and high stained glass windows. There are many more shrines around this area.
With just the few people that were about on this lovely day, probably less than 100, we tried to imagine what it must be like in summer when the place is bursting at the seams. Glad we came in winter and not yesterday when it was teaming with rain.
A castle sits on top of a pinnacle of rock with sheer sides all around almost in the centre of the city. We were going to visit it but like most things in France it closes at midday and doesn’t reopen until well into the afternoon, so we didn’t go up into it. We did get a really good view of it briefly as we were driving out of the city but there was nowhere to pull off the narrow busy street to take a photo. We had walked around many of these streets, tiny narrow lanes, and up and down narrow sets of steps, during the morning but hadn’t come across a view anywhere near as good as this one.
As we headed west along the north flank of the Pyrenees we got some good views of the snowy tops of these mountains and some stunning views down some valleys. We could cross in Spain at any one of a dozen places but we are aiming to do so near San Sebastian on the coast.
After a very frosty morning we drove into Biarritz on the Bay of Biscay. There was a good surf running but I didn’t see anyone in surfing. We didn’t actually go into the city, it was a little to the south that we pulled into the beach. It was a pleasant sandy beach but with the rocky outcrops that would be hazardous if you were surfing. Plenty of people walking their dogs along the beach front but the car park was deserted. It was still very chilly outside despite the bright sunshine, about 6˚ to 8˚C, so not exactly sunbathing weather.
We headed on across the Spanish border, I didn’t even see a sign, to San Sabastian. We had planned to spend a bit of time here to have a look around but in the end we didn’t do so. We drove into the city getting onto the wrong road a few times. There is a great deal of road construction going on and also the maps in the SatNav are not all that accurate and roads run very close together or over the top of each other so it got quite difficult but we eventually navigated our way into the city centre and it looked vaguely familiar, I had been here in 1970.
We drove around the city centre that was packed with people and parked cars. The streets are very narrow and the cars are parked on the side often leaving room for only one vehicle to pass in a two way street. Couldn’t find any parking stations and David got quite stressed so we headed out without seeing anything. Another one of the problems was that with the narrow streets and the tall buildings, about 6 to 10 stories, the SatNav kept loosing contact with the satellite and going dumb on us. It was all just too much for David, so we got onto a highway and headed for Pamplona.
Driving into the city we passed through the old city wall with an enormous arch it in that straddles the 6 lanes of the highway. The old city is where they have the ‘running of the bulls’ each year as part of an annual festival. Its origins date back to Roman times:
It’s a pleasant enough place the old city; quite compact with many tiny plazas a few larger ones. Narrow streets and lanes many of which are shared zones with vehicular traffic that doesn’t always know what ‘shared’ means. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean the place was, and not just in the old city, but in the new part as well, and we didn’t encounter one piece of ‘doggy do’; that was nice: Some of those lanes that the bulls run through are very narrow too, and they cross the small plaza in front of the lovely City Hall.
We walked around and looked into a few churches, Mass was underway in a couple so we beat a hasty retreat. An interesting old building was ‘the court of auditors’; some of it dates from the early 16th century. It was used continuously as part of the local government finance division until the early 1800’s then again since 1980. The old cobbled stone floor is done is small stones in geometric patterns and has been kept in good order. An old free standing wooden safe was on display too.
There are a few pieces of the old city wall that have been maintained. One part includes the ‘French Gate’ because it is the gate by which people entered the city if coming from the direction of France. Here, there is an old wooden draw bridge complete with winch and chains. It is used as a bridge by traffic using this entrance, and that’s only a small amount.
From the vantage point at the top of the wall we looked out over the new city, block after block of apartments. Not more than about 6 stories high and some up market areas that are just 2 story villas or townhouse type apartments. It is really high density suburbia. About 5k’s from the centre we passed a brand new suburb still under construction. Some of the blocks are finished and being lived in but many more are under way. It was a sea of cranes; at a guess I would say it is going to house about 20,000 people when complete. Parks, shops, and other amenities are being built as part of the development.
A game unique to this area, Navarre, Basque Pelota, is played on an indoor court. We went into a gallery where we could look down and watch it being played. As there was only 3 people on the courts I can only explain what we saw. One chap was just practicing by himself by throwing the ball up against the wall and hitting it back with either his left or right hand. The other two people were playing against each other and I suppose it is a bit like squash where first one hits the ball then the other one has to return it and so on. The ball made a loud clacking noise on the floor and it didn’t bounce very high, I have no idea from what material it is made. There is also another version of this game played with something like an oversized chinese soup spoon as a bat.
Just outside the old city is the Citadel. Built in the shape of a regular pentagon it was a walled fortification built between 1571 and 1645 for Felipe 2nd of Spain. It is now an enclosed green park and at festival time is where a great many of the visitors bunk down for the night in the open air.
We visited on a glorious winters day, crystal clear deep blue sky with a temperature of -4C displayed on the digital clock at 9.30am that we saw on our way in. This area south of the Pyrenees is much drier than on the French side. There is some agriculture around here and just a few grapes.
As we headed for Logroña, another city to the west of Pamplona and also on the camiño de Santiago (a walking and cycle route to Santiago, a pilgrims way) we passed through many villages. Initially they appear to be quite small but when you drive into them you realize that they are really quite large in population if not area. Usually there are several blocks of apartments of about 3 or 4 stories, separated by very narrow lanes, and the houses are crowded all together. No one lives on the farms, just like in Japan and several other countries I have visited everyone lives in the villages. I hadn’t really realized just how alike Spain and Mexico are. This Iberian peninsular is very dry, although I have travelled here before I really hadn’t noticed it as much as this trip. The type and quality of building are also the same, understandable really because it is the Spanish who colonized Mexico and took along their poor building standards.
Soon we came into the wine country of Rioja: Lots of vineyards all around in a wide river valley, the only trees seem to be the olive trees planted in groves and dotted about the countryside. Some of the grapes are grown on trellises but many are not. They are just left to grow with their vines appearing to be fairly vertical. We can see this from those that have not yet been pruned. When pruned they are cut back to the main stem completely and that is only about 1ft (300mm) above the ground. Some of these vines appear to be very old judging by the thickness and gnarled appearance of the main stem. Same can be said for the olive trees too.
In Logroño we spent a few hours having a look around. It seems to be a pleasant enough place. Wandered down a couple of old traditional narrow shopping streets, no traffic, lined with small shops on both sides and apartments above them. Many of the shops were small deli’s selling speciality hams and cheeses, but there was also just about everything else you could imagine, including a shop selling everything in miniature, it all looked like it should be dolls house furniture but I think it was meant to be ornaments, though I wouldn’t swear to it.
Of course there were several churches to visit. Again we come across mass being read so made a hasty exit. The front of the Cathedral is really outstanding with the carving and bas relief of religious persons, in a tall curved facade above the entrance. It was closed so we couldn’t go inside. Another church has several gold altar pieces. The main one was huge, but all were very impressive; I am fairly certain they were covered in gold leaf and extremely intricately carved. The biggest was about 20 ft(6m) high and 12ft (3.6m) wide. Yet another church has a strip of bas relief across the front above the door. All of these churches are within a few metres of each other.
It was a clear sunny day but the temperature was not a lot above freezing. When you got in the shade you found that any place where water had dripped or run was frozen solid and quite easy to slip on for the unwary.
The girl at the tourist information had been very helpful and gave us maps of the city and the whole area and suggested a few places we might like to visit. So we headed off in a somewhat southerly direction to visit the spa town of Arnedillo. We travelled through an area thick with vineyards and past many bodegas (wineries), most seem to be closed, maybe that’s just the time of day that we passed I’m not sure but most things are closed from 2pm to around 4pm, though it varies somewhat.
This quite small village is in a very narrow valley and the main centre of the village is well below the main road. We had to wait a while for the tourist office to open at 4pm so we wandered about some. We came across an old press for olives. It works something on the same principle as a grinding wheel for flour but instead of the top quern stone being flat there are two cone shaped stones meeting together at their pointy ends and they roll around the bottom stone pressing the olives. The oil drains into a gutter then into some sort of container.
Walked along the riverside path and climbed some steps and came to an old tunnel. It was lit and open so we walked through it. Later we found out that is was an old railway tunnel and its over 600m long. It goes right below and behind the village that tumbles down the hill side. We came out not far from where we’d started our walk. When the tourist office opened we found out where we could have a dip in some warm water pools in the river, but it is only very shallow so you really just sit in it. There is no place to change your clothes nearby, and believe me, you wouldn’t want to walk too far in that temperature in a wet swim suit, it’s in the shade and the frost hadn’t melted on the grass. The one big hotel here has some spa pools too but they are extremely expensive to use unless you are staying there, from €16 to €21.
I really can’t work out what all the people do for a living in these parts. Some are employed in the farming and rural sector but what the rest do is a mystery. There are some big industrial estates around the big cities but it doesn’t seem near enough for the huge populations there is. Of course many are employed in the tourist industry but there’s not a lot of tourists about now and lots of the smaller places are closed.
In many of the villages in this area there are dinosaur footprints and believing that it would be a nice change from looking at churches we set out to see some. At least we got to see some pleasant small villages. A few consisted of just a few houses though we didn’t see many people about. Some of the sites involved a walk of several k’s but in the lovely sunny weather that is ok; walking in the sun it gets quite warm but if you pass through an area that is shaded then it can be near freezing with frost on the ground and frozen streams in the valleys. At one place we saw some kids playing with a radio controlled model ‘monster’ truck and they had it on the ice on the edge of the stream. In the middle the stream was running, only frozen on the shallow sides.
Some of the dinosaur prints are exceptionally well defined and clear. Each area has a large number of prints and the quality seems to have been determined by the consistency of the mud at the time they were made. All are in what was once a lake with a muddy shore, or perhaps it was drying up at the time, it’s quite easy to see that it was mud as it’s only silt stone now. It’s also believed that it was a far warmer and wetter climate than now. Many of the prints, some of the clearest are of a large 3 toe splayed foot, very similar to that of a bird. The largest ones seem to have been made by a more rounded toe animal. Around the sites there are numerous information boards but they are all in Spanish and though I can make out a little of what they say most I cannot understand. We did work out that the prints are believed to be 110million years old. From the prints it has been determined that there were several different types of dinosaurs together here; some were herbaceous whilst at least one species was coniferous. One print is 75cm from toe to heel, and because the prints lead across quite a large area the length of the stride is easy to measure. That helps with determining the size of the animal.
Another thing we saw was an old clay tile kiln: It is a bit overgrown but you can still see how it was built. Apparently there was also a spring very near it, but now the area is so dry the spring has long gone and the people that used to live here and work the land have left too. All through these mountains the hillsides have been terraced at some point in time. Very well done too, with neat stone walls creating small flat areas that could be cultivated: This covers a very extensive area, bigger than I have seen anywhere in Asia. Who built them and what was grown on them I can only guess at; there didn’t appear to be any information about that on the signs around the sites. I would have thought that olives and grapes would seem the most obvious but there is not a single olive tree or grape vine anywhere near them that I can see so I have come to the conclusion that it was probably wheat or some other cereal. Why they are no longer used? Well perhaps its just too dry now, it does seem very arid with just a bit of dry grass, some low growing thorn bush and a very occasional small tree that I think is a holly tree, one with tiny leaves. Wild roses, now covered in bright red rose hips abound in a few places and are just as dense as blackberry brambles and probably more thorny.
Another thing that abounds here are wind turbines: We drove up to one collection high on a hill top and found that when we looked around the horizon there were several other clusters of them on most of the high ridges. We estimate that we could see at least 200 such turbines. David said he could hear a low pitched roar from them but I couldn’t here that, nothing new for me.
©Lynette Regan December 15th 2007