My Journey to Santiago de Compostela Part VIII

This was the longest day since Day one of our journey.  We started quite early and left Los Arcos at the early hours of dawn.

Crossing the Ebro valley was not arduous but a long way on a trail with no trees, through fields that had already been harvested.  After a few small climbs and passing Torres del Rio, we descended towards the beautiful town of Viana, about ten kilometers to Logroño.  That is where we stopped for a delicious lentils soup with chorizo, a salad and a couple of glasses of Rose Navarra wine.  From then on, we would be leaving the Kingdom of Navarra and stepping into the Comunidad de Rioja and its capital Logroño.

Entering Logroño was a pilgrimage by itself! We walked through an industrial area, typical of a city of 151 thousand inhabitants.  As we got closer to the city center, the landscape changed to a beautiful park surrounding the Ebro river and the entrance to Logroño simply majestuous as we crossed the bridge that anyone arriving in Logroño on foot will find waiting to welcome them. In fact, at the beginning of the Stone Bridge there are two ‘fielatos’, one of which is used as an information point for Pilgrims. ‘Fielatos’ were the huts or constructions where the old municipal tax guards were housed, taxes on goods collected, and health controls on foodstuffs carried out before they were allowed to enter the city.

Since this was our first major city since Pamplona, we checked into a hotel in order to have a bit more privacy and comfort.  We also decided to take the next day off and get to enjoy the city, its beautiful monuments, Rioja wine and delicious food.

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