Page 141 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

BASQUE C OUNTR Y , NA V ARR A & LA RIOJA  139

identity, and local costumes are cliffs. The abbey has been here
worn during fiestas. The ski resort since the 11th century, when it
of Isaba, further up the valley, was a great spiritual and political
has a museum of local history centre. Sancho III and his succes-
and life. A spectacular road sors made it the royal pantheon
winds from Isaba to the tree- of Navarra. The monastery began
lined village of Ochagavia in the to decline in the 12th century. It
parallel Valle de Salazar. To the was aban doned from 1836 until
north, the Selva de Irati, one 1954, when it was restored by
of Europe’s largest woodlands, the Benedictines, who turned
spreads over the Pyrenees part of it into a hotel. To see the
into France, below snowy monastery, you must join one
Monte Ori at 2,017 m (6,617 ft). of the tours run every morning
and afternoon.
The big 11th-century church
has a Gothic vault and three
lofty apses. On its west portal Crucifix in the oratory of the Castillo
are weather-worn carvings of de Javier
strange beasts, as well as biblical
figures. The Roman esque crypt
has unusually short columns with z Sangüesa
chunky capitals. The monks’ Navarra. * 5,000. @ n Calle Mayor
Gregorian chant (see p380) during 2, 948 87 14 11 (closed Mon in winter).
ser vices is wonderful to hear. ( Fri. _ San Sebastián (11 Sep).
∑ sanguesa.es
l Castillo de Javier Since medieval times this small
town beside a bridge over the
Javier, Navarra. Tel 948 88 40 24.
@ from Pamplona. Open daily. Río Aragón has been a stop on
& ∑ santuariojaviersj.org the Aragonese pilgrimage route
Colourful balconies of houses in the to Santiago (see pp86–7).
village of Roncal St Francis Xavier, the patron The richly sculpted south
saint of Navarra, a missionary portal of the Iglesia de Santa
k Monasterio and a priest of the Jesuit order María la Real is a 12th- and
de Leyre (see p128), was born in this 13th-century treasure of
Romanesque art (see p28). It
13th-century castle in 1506.
Yesa, Navarra. Tel 948 88 41 50. It has since been re stored and has many figures and details
@ Yesa. Open daily. Chants: 7:30am, is now a Jesuit spiritual centre. depicting the Last Judgment
9am, 7pm and 9:10pm daily. Of interest are the saint’s and society in the 13th century.
Closed 1 & 6 Jan, 25 Dec. & bedroom and a museum in The Gothic Iglesia de Santiago
∑ monasteriodeleyre.com the keep devoted to his life. and the 12th- to 13th-century
In the oratory is a 13th-century Gothic Iglesia de San Francisco
The monastery of San Salvador polychrome Christ on the cross are also worth seeing. On the
de Leyre is situated high above and a macabre 15th-century main street the 16th-century
a reservoir, alone amid grand mural of grinning skeletons town hall (ayuntamiento) and
scenery, backed by limestone entitled The Dance of Death. the square beside it stand on
sites that were once part of the
medieval palace of the Prince
of Viana and a residence of
the kings of Navarra. The library
beside the square is housed in
what remains of the palace and
is open to the public.
Environs
To the north of Sangüesa there
are two deep, narrow gorges.
The most impressive is the Hoz
de Arbayún, whose limestone
cliffs are inhabited by colonies
of vultures. It is best seen from
the NA178 north of Domeño.
The Hoz de Lumbier can be seen
The roughly carved columns in the crypt of the Monasterio de Leyre from a point on the A21.

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