EUNATE AND OLCOZ. A PERPLEXING MIRROR IMAGE
A suggestive legend, full of mythological references, is recounted by the local villagers. The story starts with the commencement of the work to build the church of Santa María (St Mary) in Eunate. For some unknown reason the master ...
Pilgrims in the Cathedral
The main purpose of the Pilgrimage to Santiago is to arrive at the Cathedral of Compostela and venerate the Saint Apostle. There pilgrims, apart from fulfilling an spiritual mission, can admire one of the most magnificent centres of holy art ...
Miracles along the Route
Religious pilgrimages are always connected with miracles. The Route to Santiago is not an exception. There are many legends about fantastic events that happened to pilgrims along the holy route. The most renowned miracle -there is evidence ...
The Pilgrimage by Car
The pilgrimage was traditionally made on foot, and nowadays it can also be made on horseback or by bicycle. But it is extremely unusual to follow the route by car. Since Carl Benz invented the first gasoline motorcar in 1885 to the present ...
Curiosity
Santiago´s Route attracted numerous pilgrims until the middle of the 16th century. Over the 17th centuruy, people began to forget about the Apostle and the number of pilgrims to Compostela fell dramatically. This tendency conti ...
THE MONASTERY OF ST ANTÓN. THE MYSTERIOUS ORDER OF ST ANTONIO (ST ANTHONY)
Nordic and Central-European citizens, suffering from the cruel and endemic St Anthony's fire or ergot poisoning, made mass pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. Along the way, the pilgrims would ask the monks of St Anthony to alleviate the pains ...
THE HUNDRED DAMSELS
As the legend goes, in times of the mythical king Mauregato, the Saracen conquerors forced the Christians to pay them a tribute of one hundred damsels each year.Habían en todo esto de Almanzor darcien doncellas hermosas que fuesen por casar,ha ...
CHARLEMAGNE. RONCESVALLES. ROLAND
On 15th August 778, the rearguard of Charlemagne's army, returning from an expedition to Saragossa and after dismantling the city walls of Pamplona, was attacked and defeated by the Basques at the mountain pass of Roncesvalles. This event (which ...
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
The cathedral of Santiago was designed with a floor-plan and series of special characteristics that come within a particular category of Romanesque architecture, commonly termed "Pilgrimage Art": large churches or basilicas, with barrel vau ...
THE OCA HILLS
The name Oca or goose relates these hills to a symbol that is much used by medieval builders - the goose leg - and also to this mythical animal itself. Goose symbols are found time and time again along the Way in different forms. There ar ...
VIANA AND CÉSAR BORGIA
César Borgia, who was greatly admired by Niccolo Machiavelli, and whose reputation as an adventurer and libertine transcended all frontiers, linked his name to that of Navarre in 1491 when, at the age of 16, he was appointed Bishop of Pamplona ...
THE PIOUS LEGEND OF SAINT GUILLÉN AND SAINT FELICIA
Leaving Eunate behind, the Way of St James passes alongside the village of Obanos, where it is essential to recall the legend of Guillén and Felicia. Felicia and her brother Guillén, the heir to the powerful duchy of Aquitaine, en ...
MAGICAL BIERZO. THE SECRET OF THE TEMPLARS
Molinaseca stands at the foot of the mountain pass, with the sanctuary of the Virgin of Las Angustias (of anguish) at its entrance. It is said that churchgoers and harvesters alike would pull a splinter of wood from the sanctuary door on their outwar ...
SANTO DOMINGO DE LA CALZADA, WHERE THE ROASTED COCK CROWED AGAIN
Opposite the tomb stands the famous hen cage containing a live cock and hen, in commemoration of the famous miracle that Aymeric Picaud places in Toulouse and which happened at the beginning of the 15th C. The historian, Huidobro, narrates it as foll ...
VILLAMAYOR OF MONJARDÍN
When Charlemagne, in his advance south along the Way of St James, was close to the Garzini hill (Monjardín), he was informed that a Navarre leader called Furro or Furré was ready to fight him.Before going into battle, Charlemagne asked ...
