Clavijo

[MikeB]

I will be returning to continue my second full camino this spring at Orthez, 2 days before St Jean. I will want to visit the monasterios at San Millan this time, but because they are closed on Mondays, I may need to take a day extra somewhere to slow down. I don't like short days - I feel really frustrated! - so, how about leaving Logroño heading 17km south to Clavijo, before returning to Navarette via Abelda de Iruego (and Soranzo if possible). Why these three?

At Soranzo, on the 3rd Sunday in May, is the procession of Cien Doncellas commemorating the annual offer of 100 maidens from Christian Castille to the Moor ruler of Cordoba. Then Ramiro 1st refused to continue the offer, and Abd-al-Rahmân attacked ..... in 844 .... which led to the battle of Clavijo that the Christians won thanks to Santiago Matamoros, or so the story goes!

Abelda de Iruega could well have been on the original route to Santiago, as there was a monastery in the 10th century where the first pilgrim, Godescalc, Bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay, stopped in about 950. Apparently, a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris refers to this.

So two have a link to Santiago Matamoros, and the third to the (very) historical Camino.

Has anyone wandered on down to Clavijo? Can you get up to the castle? What did you think of it? The Gitlitz/Davidson p129 seems to think its worth it (but I cannot see how it they think it can take two days!)

Thanks for any input
Mike

 

[PILGRIMSPLAZA]

Ramiro

Interested in Ramiro comics?
http://pilgrimsplaza-ramiro-1.blogspot.com
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramiro:
1. De Bastaard
2. De Valstrik
3. Het Geheim van de Pelgrim
4. De Wachters van Bierzo
5. De Charlatan
6. Storm over Galicië
7. De Erfenis van de Westgothen 1e Moorse Roof
8. De Erfenis van de Westgothen 2e Gijzelaars
9. Intergrale uitgave Ramiro (1st deel)
10. Intergrale uitgave Ramiro (2de deel)
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfons_VII ... tili%C3%AB

 

[William Marques]

I have been to Clavijo but only by road I have not walked it. The castle is in ruins but not so ruined that you cannot recognise it. When I went there about 8 years ago it was possible to clamber up to it and walk around.

I would not walk a good deal out of my way to see it but if you can combine it with something else or have time to spare as you know it is worth seeing just because of the history.

 

[sillydoll]

And then again, it is one of those places that is more folk-lore and legend than fact. Historians say that the events at Clavijo were attributed to a battle that actually took place 100 years later when Ramiro 11 of Leon defeated another Caliph of Cordoba - without any help from a man on a white horse!