TRAVELING THROUGH SPAIN

9 September 2023, Camino 3, Day 10

Villafranca de la Oca to Ibeas de Juarros

We have been traveling through various regions across Spain, each one of them special. Pamplona where we. started out is in Navarre. Navarre is very beautiful and very rocky with steep hilly mountains. It’s the Basque region and the Basque are known to be hearty people, strong people, and not. afraid to take on a challenge some say that they’re not the friendliest people, but I did not find that to be true. This region in Spain reaches up over into the French Basque region. The really interesting thing about the Basque is that their language is different from Spanish and so you’ll notice that every sign in Navarre has it written both in Spanish and in Basque. And linguists have tried to discover the origins of the Basque language and all they can say is it’s completely different from any other language in the world.

The next region we went through is Rioja, which is vineyard after vineyard after vineyard. This is the heart of wine region in in Spain. I think when you go to the grocery store, you will see a lot of Spanish wines from Rioja. Campo Viejo can be found in Spanish groceries and your favorite Krogers.

Yesterday we crossed over from Rioja into Leon & Castilla. I think it’s the largest region that we cross on the camino. We will be walking here most of the time. The city of Leon is the capital of Leon & Castilla. There are rumblings that the people want Castilla to become its own separate region. I understand the Catalonian separatists in the east who want to separate from Spain and become their own country, but I don’t really understand the need to be a separate region.

Buen Camino