Day 9 Logrono to Najera

Logrono to Navarette to Ventosa to Najera. 18.5 miles. Walked through La Rioja wine region today, so grape vines galore. It was a relatively easy and beautiful walk, with one big hill and lots of little ones. Navarette and Ventosa were cute towns, but Najera was rather dingy. Explored the monastery while waiting for a restaurant - any restaurant - to open their kitchen. Can’t say I like the late dinner thing here. The monastery was really cool, with half of it built into red rock mountains. Lots of kings and queens of Navarre buried there, along with a sad chapel containing a queen and 8 of her children who died before the age of 5. Wonder how many children she had overall??

There used to be a castle built next to and into the hills here, but only a few windows cut into the hillside are left.

My room is freezing and the main fuse went out - so I’m huddled under two blankets with a tiny bedside lamp to see by. When I talked to the owner an hour ago, he just shrugged and said it’s an old building, he’ll fix it tomorrow and gave me an extra blanket. Can’t say Najera is a place I’d return to, but they can’t all be fantastic.Read more