Puente La Reina Revisited

In Puente la Reina ('Queen's Bridge') last year I'd stayed at the excellent Albergue Padres Rapadores at the town's entrance. This time I thought I'd try somewhere different so I headed down the Calle Major to the Albergue Santiago Apóstol which lay at the top of a hill on the far side of town. On the way I crossed the famous bridge. This magnificent bridge had been built specially for pilgrims bound for Compostela in medieval times...

The albergue was big - and modern and clinical and not very atmospheric. But it was clean and quiet - though the strong wind which got up later that night did rattle the windows. I had an interesting conversation with Florian - a German boy and the only other occupant - then made my way back into town for a final meal with my Spanish pilgrim friends, Carlos and Javi.

The next day I visited the church of Santa María de la Vega y del Crucifijo. The origin of this church is linked with the Knights Templar (I've written before about the Knights Templar - they are closely bound up with the Camino. Indeed, the chapel of Santa María de Eunate I'd visited the day before is also associated with these crusader Knights - its design recalling the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem). This is the 13th century church porch...

... and this the polychrome effigy of Santa María, the Virgin Mary, I found inside...

Knights Templar

[A Templar Knight] is a truly fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly-armed, and need fear neither demons nor men. BERNARD DE CLAIRVAUX

There are many places associated with the Knights Templar along the Camino.

This order of knights was formed to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land after Jerusalem's conquest in the 1st Crusade of 1096. The knights wore white robes emblazoned with red crosses. (The red cross was a symbol of martyrdom.) They were fearless in battle. The order was structured very much like a monastic order - but with complex secret rituals and initiation rites. The knights pledged to give up all wealth and worldly goods, and took vows of poverty, chastity, piety and obedience.

Over the centuries many legends and stories have risen up round the Knights Templar. Some romanticists have thought that, amongst their religious relics, they carried the Holy Grail or a piece of the True Cross. Historical books and novels, films and computer games, have all added to the myth.

For reasons too complicated to go into here, the Knights Templar fell out of favour in the 14th century, and were condemned both by the Pope and the French king. They were tortured in order to extract false confessions. Then burnt at the stake.

The Last Knight

On the misty heights between the tops of Puerto Irago and Punto Alto, half-way between Rabanal and Molinaseca, lies the tiny, abandoned settlement of Manjarin. Deserted - except for the very basic, rustic albergue run by hospitalero Tomás, the self-styled last surviving Templar Knight.

I'd heard a lot about him. Stuff that was bordering on legend. How he blessed the new day in an ancient Templar blessing ceremony; how he played tapes of Gregorian chants for the pilgrims; how he rang ritualistic bells. One pilgrim had told me of arcane knowledge he would pass on - if the mood was right - to some lucky pilgrim. Other pilgrims had disparaged him as a bit of a fake.

However I approached my audience with him in a state of anticipation. It's not every day you have the chance of being initiated into secret Templar lore. And possibly being told the meaning of life and your very destiny. Who knew what would happen?

As usual, when you look forward to something, the reality turned out to be far different from the expectation. The albergue was atmospheric (see photos). Tomás was friendly. He offered me a cup of coffee in its smoky interior. I stroked the cats. Then he said he had to leave. I shook his hand and awaited his words of wisdom. "Buen Camino!" he smiled, "Buen Camino!" I retreated outside into the cold mountain air.

A Frenchman Ate My Food

The next day 22 November a fine natural track took us to the village of Torres del Rio (see 1st photo) with its 12th century Iglesia de Santo Sepulcro linked with the Knights Templar (more of the Knights Templar later - they are associated with much of the route) and the octagonal church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. These churches are respectively on the left and right of the photo. In Spain the churches were often sadly locked, whereas in France they were usually open.

My 2nd photo shows some of the typical landscape on the way to the beautiful, historic and architecturally significant town of Viana, a major pilgrim halt. Cesare Borgia, of Italy's infamous Borgia family, is buried here in the Church of Santa Maria. He was the son of Roderigo Borgia (elected Pope Alexander VI in 1492) and brother of Lucrezia. Commander of the Papal armies, he was banished to Spain on the death of his father by his father's papal successor. He died near here defending Viana in the siege of 1507. He was a friend of both Leonardo da Vinci (who had been his military architect) and Niccolo Machiavelli. During the course of his life he fathered 11 illegitimate children.

Just before Logrono we entered the region of La Rioja, renowned of course for its wonderful wines. After passing a wetland nature reserve, the outskirts of Logrono were a little grim. There were roads, there were trucks, there was ribbon development. The weather had deteriorated, the skies were grey, there were squally showers. However when we crossed the wide Ebro river, and reached the proper town itself, we found it delightful.

Logrono is a lively university town, the capital of La Rioja, with a population of 130,000. I liked it very much. The 3rd photo gives a detail of its impressive Plaza del Mercado which fronts the late 14th century Gothic cathedral. That evening I shopped for fresh minced beef, vegetables and garlic in its atmospheric, traditional covered market, and for linguine and tins of tomatoes in its large modern supermarket (Logrono is a seductive blend of the old and the new). I cooked the old fall-back favourite of English-style spaghetti bolognese for my pilgrim friends in the albergue municipal. Success! I made a huge amount but every plate was wiped clean. Even le cuisinier Laurent had to admit it was rather good. A FRENCHMAN ATE MY FOOD AND ENJOYED IT! This was indeed a proud moment.