A Couple of Castles and a Quick Trip to France…

Today marks the first day of classes for everyone back at HC! While I’m missing my friends who have been busy settling in for another year on the hill, I really can’t imagine being anywhere else right now.

We’re currently wrapping up our classes in Pamplona, and there’s exactly one week until I will be in Leon, my permanent residence for this year!  We’re getting ready to take exams for our classes and we have one final weekend with all of us together in Pamplona.

Last Saturday, we had an extremely busy day and we travelled nonstop. Our first stop was to a huge gorge in Navarra, known as the Foz de Lumbier. It was an absolutely beautiful walk along the gorge, through two pitch black tunnels, and over the “Devil’s Bridge” (just as scary as it sounds). It was a great way to start the day and we quickly moved on to our next destination: Ochagavia. As we got off the bus, we saw the picturesque town; I felt like I had stepped back in time as all of the locals dressed up in traditional clothing and horses, sheep, and cows roamed the streets. It turns out that the townspeople were celebrating a festival that day and I was very entertained by the sight.

From there, we stopped at a town called Roncesvalles. Located on the border of France, this is where the Camino de Santiago begins. The Camino is a religious pilgrimage that goes through the northern portion of Spain and is renown throughout Europe. It’s 750km long and usually takes at least a month to complete. I decided in class today that I would add this to my bucket list for sometime in the future, so I definitely have an excuse to return! From there, we crossed the border and headed into France for a few hours. (I know it sounds crazy but it really was that simple).  Despite the fact that I know maybe 5 words in French, I had a great time walking in the small town of San Juan de Pie del Puerto. Naturally, I was determined to get some crepes while in France (I highly recommend them) and spent time browsing through the shops. This excursion made me realize how excited I am to take weekend trips to different European countries because it is so easy to get from one place to another.

In the past two weeks, we’ve also had the chance to go to two different castles in Navarra: Olite and the Castillo de Javier. Both were incredible! Seriously, how often do you get to spend an afternoon walking around a castle? The castle of Olite was the home to the King and Queen of Navarra and the other was home to San Francisco de Javier- a companion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola who founded the Jesuits. They were both very interesting and it was a lot of fun (not to mention a good workout) climbing up the narrow stairs to the highest tower!

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