8:16 AM – Viana: morning view from our balcony of street Medio de San Pedro with street sweeper.
We ate breakfast at La Taberna bar in Rua de Santa María across from the entrance to the Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción. The lady at Pensión San Pedro had said to mention her for a discount. We had 2 tostadas con tomate y aceite, 2 coffee, 1 orange juice (total 5.60€).
8:50 AM – Viana: La Taberna bar - exterior.
8:42 AM – Viana: La Taberna bar – MT holding tostada with (sliced) tomatoes and oil.
We departed Viana at 9:20 am. Looking back on the town, we could see the strategic position of Iglesia San Pedro high on a hill.
9:32 AM – Leaving Viana: view back on town with Iglesia San Pedro ruins.
9:32 AM – Leaving Viana: Iglesia San Pedro ruins on way out of town (telephoto, 156 mm).
9:45 AM - After Viana: MT with Buen Camino graffiti in tunnel.
10:04 AM – After Viana: view toward Logroño (city beyond Pantano de las Cañas reservoir), with threatening clouds.
Just before Logroño, we entered the autonomous region (comunidad) of La Rioja, Spain’s premier wine-producing region. La Rioja takes its name from the Río Oja. It is separated by the Río Ebro from the Basque country to the north and Navarre to the east. When Spain became 52 provinces in 1822, one of them was Logroño. La Rioja only regained its name in 1980.
10:43 AM – La Rioja border (2-4 km before Logroño).
10:45 AM – La Rioja border (2-4 km before Logroño) – Don (in rain gear) at sign.
Close to the Embalse (reservoir) near Logroño, we had some light rain. We began to see the first vineyards of La Rioja.
11:17 AM – Near Logroño: ripe grapes in vineyard.
Around 11:45, we arrived in Logroño (pop 130,000).
Logroño, the capital of La Rioja and traditionally a center for pilgrims. It lies between Rioja Alta (the moist, mountainous western part) and Rioja Baja (the flat, arid eastern half). The old quarter is bordered by the Río Ebro and the medieval walls. The Puente de Piedra (Stone Bridge) was built as part of the pilgrimage route. The city is the center of the trade in Rioja wine.
The Turismo office at the edge of town gave us a map and cards for lodging. We also got sellos. We tried one 4-star hotel (F&G), where double room was 70€ but all booked. Then we tried Pensión Sebastian (double 40€), but rooms were small and up 3 or 4 floors. So we went back on Calle Portales by the cathedral and found Pensión La Redonda (although the ground floor was under construction) with a much nicer double room con baño for 40€. We got a sello and a new map of the city (the first one was soaked). The man at the desk recommended La Taberna de Portales for lunch.
Calle Portales is the main street in the old town, where people like to walk and sit in terrazas to eat a meal or drink wine.
3:40 PM - Logroño: Pensión La Redonda exterior (upstairs).
3:45 PM - Logroño: Pensión La Redonda – our room.
La Taberna de Portales had an 11.95€ menu del día: 1st course: 2 tortellini; 2nd course: 2 bacalao a la riojana (cod in red sauce); dessert: MT rice pudding/Don chocolate ice cream (sundae). They let us keep the rest of Rioja wine bottle and water bottle.
1:58 PM – Logroño: La Taberna de Portales exterior.
1:12 PM – Logroño: La Taberna de Portales – MT with Rioja wine.
1:19 PM – Logroño: La Taberna de Portales – waitress with Don.
1:20 PM – Logroño: La Taberna de Portales – MT and Don at table with tortellini, bread, and wine (waitress took photo).
We went to check on a place we had seen with “degustación cueso” [cheese tasting] sign on Travesia San Juan (they opened again at 6 pm). Then we went to the 16th-century Iglesia Santiago el Real on the northwest side of the town and learned the mass there was at 7:30 pm. Near this church was the Fuente de los Peregrinos.
The Fuente de los Peregrinos (Fountain of the Pilgrims) existed here from time immemorial, but was reconstructed in 1675. It is sometimes called Fuente de Santiago because it is situated in front of Iglesia Santiago el Real.
4:32 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – with Fuente de los Peregrinos fountain (left) and dice of Juego de Oca game in Plaza de Santiago square (right).
Construction of the current Iglesia Santiago el Real began in 1513, on the site of a medieval Romanesque church of the same name, of which a few architectural and sculptural remains are preserved. The Renaissance façade on the south side was made between 1669 and 1672 and was designed along the lines of a triumphal arch decorated with two statues of Santiago: in one he is pictured wearing a pilgrim habit (Santiago Peregrino) and in the other as a warrior on horseback. The church is most noted for that equestrian statue of Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor-Slayer) dating from 1737. According to legend, St. James appeared as a warrior on a white horse to lead the Christians to victory over the Moors in the Battle of Clavijo (23 May 844), which helped launch the Reconquista (Reconquest) of Spain.
2:15 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – south door with statues of Santiago Matamoros and Santiago Apóstol.
2:15 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – 18th-century statue of Santiago Matamoros above south door.
2:15 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – 17th-century statue of Santiago Apóstol above south door.
The Reconquista (Reconquest) is a period of approximately 770 years (722-1492) during which Christian forces retook the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim occupation.
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire in Spain was hastened by the barbarian invasions and the arrival first of the Franks and Suevi tribes and then the Visigoths from Gaul. Incessant internal squabbles resulted in one faction seeking, rather unadvisedly, support from the Muslim community in Morocco, which duly obliged and arrived in much larger numbers than anticipated. Islam had spread rapidly across northern Africa, and less than 80 years after Mohammed’s death in 632 the Moorish conquest of the southern Iberian Peninsula was virtually complete.
In 711, Muslim Moors (mainly North African Berber soldiers with some Arabs) crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began their conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania. By 719, they had conquered Visigoth Spain and even crossed the Pyrenees to take the last province of the Visigothic kingdom. The relatively benign rule of the Moors appears to have been much more favorable than life under the Visigoths. The Moors allowed complete freedom of religion. Mozarabic was the name given to freely practicing Christians under Moorish rule. However, this period was not without resistance to Muslim domination.
Resistance increased when the Muslims began to advance northward. Traditionally, historians mark the beginning of the Reconquista with the Battle of Covadonga (722), in which a small army led by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius (Spanish: Pelayo) defeated a Muslim army in the mountains of northern Iberia and established a small Christian principality in Asturias. During his reign from 739-757, the Asturian King Alfonso I rallied Galician support when driving the Moorish army out of Galicia and an area of what was to become León. In 778, Charlemagne crossed the Pyrenees to try to stop the Muslim advance.
After a Galician shepherd named Pelayo was reported to have discovered the tomb of Santiago (St. James) in 813, the Bishop of nearby Iria Flavia (now Padrón) seized the moment and “confirmed” the story in perfect timing to add fuel to the Reconquista, starting with the Battle of Clavijo in 844 in which Santiago is said to have appeared as a knight in shining armor on a white horse slaying Moors with his sword (hence the figure of Santiago Matamoros, the Moor Slayer) and turned the tide of the battle.
The ideology of a Christian reconquest of the peninsula started to take shape at the end of the 9th century. However, it gained momentum at the time of the Crusades, which started in the late 11th century. In the 11th century, there were three principal Christian kingdoms in Spain: León-Castilla, Navarra, and Aragon. While often in conflict with one another, they united against their common enemy, the Muslims, in what became known as the Reconquista. The operation was largely achieved in 1492 with the conquest of the Emirate of Granada under the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella (whose marriage had united Castilla and Aragon), although repetitive expulsions of Muslims from Iberia continued for at least another 150 years.
6:57 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – view toward main altar (nave is 42 m long and 20 m wide).
2:20 PM - Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – main altarpiece.
The current main altarpiece was made between 1653 and 1656. It consists of 3 bodies with 5 vertical rows and an attic topped with an arch. In the first body are Santiago Matamoros (appearing to a retired Greek bishop at the grave of Santiago), San Pedro (Peter), San Pablo (Paul), and Santiago beheaded. In the second, on the left, San Isidoro and San Juan Bautista and, on the right, San Jerónimo (Jerome) and the transporting of ark containing the remains of Santiago and in the center a Gothic image of Santiago Peregrino from the previous altarpiece of the 14th century. On the third body are the Battle of Clavijo, James the Lesser, the Assumption, San Felipe, and the appearance of the Virgin of Pilar to Santiago. In the attic are San Antón Abad, Santa Tecla, and in the center the Crucifixion with the Virgin and St. John at the foot of the cross. Until 1740, the wooden altarpiece was gilded. In 2001, the original Romanesque Crucifix of the attic (early 13th century but possibly painted in the 15th) was taken down and placed in the chapel to the right of the choir.
2:22 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – 14th-century Santiago Peregrino statue on main altar (close-up).
8:07 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – 14th-century Gothic statue of la Virgen de la Esperanza (Virgin of Hope) in side chapel (after mass).
The statue of the Virgen de la Esperanza (Virgin of Hope), patroness of Logroño, was placed in the lower part of the altarpiece in the reform of 1966-67. It is a well preserved Gothic figure of the 14th century, in the seated style. She smiles and with her left hand keeps the Child sitting on her lap looking straight ahead.
8:07 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real - la Virgen de la Esperanza statue (after mass, closer up).
8:06 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – view toward back of nave with window above choir (after mass).
The choir at the foot of the nave was completed in 1668, after the previous high choir was demolished. The enclosure was added in 1676.
8:07 PM – Logroño: Iglesia Santiago el Real – close-up of stained glass window (with Santiago cross) at back of nave, above choir (telephoto, 260 mm).
Then we went to a supermercado and bought bread, cheese, ham, and fruit for supper (11.97€).
2:37 PM - Logroño: supermercado – MT with wheeled cart.
2:39 PM - Logroño: supermercado – Don with wheeled cart.
2:52 PM - Logroño: supermercado – live crabs (“buey de mar” at left is a variety of crab, “nécora” at right is a small crab) with octopus (pulpo) and shrimp.
2:53 PM - Logroño: supermercado – fish on ice.
Then we blundered into the “zona tapas y vinos” section of town. This section was full of people and MT described it as “really hoppin’.”
Logroño is famous for the pincho bar scene. Pinchos or pintxos are northern Spain’s name for tapas. There are over 50 taperias (tapas restaurants) located within a 4-block area near the town center. The pincho bars are clustered around two narrow streets near one another in the old part of town: Calle de Laurel, known as “the path of the elephants,” and Calle San Juan are typical streets where various restaurants and tapas bars offer some of the best pinchos and tapas in northern Spain.
3:24 PM - Logroño: street in zona tapas y vino.
3:24 PM - Logroño: street and shops in zona tapas y vino.
On the way back to our pension, we came to the Mercado de San Blas market in Plaza Abastos (aka Mercado de Abastos), where MT bought tomatoes.
Logroño: Mercado de San Blas (commons.wikimedia.org).
By 1914, the original Plaza de Abastos de San Blas was in such bad state that the city council commissioned an architect to build a new market, which was inaugurated in 1930. Its placement was the same as the first Plaza de Abastos, over the Iglesia de San Blas demolished in 1837.
4:14 PM - Logroño: garlic chains in Mercado de San Blas.
Then we went back to Pensión La Redonda, and the clerk said mass in the cathedral was at 5 pm (?).
Before mass, we went to the library and both used computers one hour; MT checked emails and emailed our daughters, and Don looked up Navarette and bodegas to visit.
Don also made a short side trip to see Iglesia Imperial de Santa Maria del Palacio, which unfortunately was undergoing renovation.
The 11th-century Iglesia Imperial de Santa Maria del Palacio is known as La Aguja (the needle) for its pyramid-shape, 45-yard Romanesque-Gothic tower. The official name of the church is due to the fact that it was built on the base of a palace donated by the King of Castile. It is called “Imperial” because King Carlos I of Spain was at the same time the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
4:43 PM – Logroño: Santa María de Palacio church (under renovation) with pyramidal spire.
We went to the Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda in Plaza del Mercado, bordering on Calle Portales.
The origins of Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda date back to the 9th century, when monks from Torres del Río fled there because of Muslim raids. It sits on the site of an ancient Roman temple. The current cathedral was built in Gothic style in 1516-1538 over a primitive 12th-century Romanesque church called La Redonda (round) due to being in an octagonal shape, similar to the one in Torres del Río. However, numerous reforms of the 18th century have made its outside appearance entirely Baroque. The twin Baroque towers, called Las Gemelas (the Twins), were a later addition in the 18th century. The most spectacular feature of the cathedral is the western façade, constructed in 1742 as a stone altarpiece with 3 bodies and 7 blocks with sculptures of evangelists, angels, etc., crowned by a Baroque shell The main portal was constructed in the Plateresque style typical of the 18th century, and the side portals are typical Baroque. Although the interior architecture is mostly 15th-century late Gothic, all altarpieces and the majority of statues and icons are Baroque. In 1959, the former Collegiate Church of Santa María de la Redonda received the title concathedral (co-cathedral) because, together with the Catedral de Calahorra and that of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, it is the seat of the diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada- Logroño.
2:00 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – façade with twin towers (Calle Portales on right).
2:01 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – façade and twin towers.
6:18 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – side altar with John the Baptist at the top and Virgin and Child below.
6:18 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – Virgin and Child on that side altar.
6:19 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – view toward main altar.
The main altarpiece is from the 17th century. In its center is the Tree of Jesse where the image of the Virgin (Santa María de la Redonda) appears at its top. Saints Peter and Paul stand in the sides, and a crucifix of the mid-16th century is in the tympanum.
Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – main altar (www.larreonda.org).
Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – altarpiece in Capilla del Santo Cristo at right, behind main altar (commons.wikimedia.org).
6:21 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – wooden crucifix on altarpiece in Capilla del Santo Cristo.
6:28 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – left side of nave toward the rear. (The floorplan is 80 m long, 26 m wide, and its height reaches 27 m.)
9:26 PM [taken 629 PM] - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – The Assumption (mid-15th century) located directly behind main altar on outside wall of small ambulatory.
9:26 PM [taken 631 PM] - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda - poster “Creí, por eso hablé” [I believed, therefore I spoke] for diocesan pastoral plan 2013-2014.
6:47 PM - Logroño: Concatedral de Santa María de la Redonda – Santiago statue on left side of nave.
We went back to Iglesia Santiago el Real at 7 pm for rosary and 7:30 mass. The priest called pilgrims up for a blessing at the end of the mass; then he had us all turn toward the Virgen de la Esperanza statue for a prayer.
After mass, we went back to Pensión La Redonda and ate bread, cheese, ham, and fruit in our room.
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