Explore Euskal Herria: The País Vasco and Navarra
South of Pamplona, the country changes rapidly; the mountains are left behind and the monotonous plains of central Spain begin to open out. The people are different, too – more akin to their southern neighbours than to the Basques of the north. Regular buses and trains run south to Tudela, the second city of Navarra, passing through Tafalla and Olite, once known as the “Flowers of Navarra”, while attractive smaller towns and villages dot the area.
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Olite
Olite
OLITE, 42km south of Pamplona, is as gorgeous a small town as you could ever hope to stumble across, all the more unexpected a pleasure in that its larger neighbour Tafalla is quite unremarkable, and the town itself is surrounded by ugly modern developments. Its dominant feature is a former royal palace, the Palacio Real de Olite, but it also holds a couple of fine old churches, Romanesque San Pedro and Gothic Santa María.
Olite’s exuberant Fiesta del Patronales takes place from September 13 to 19, and there’s a medieval festival the second weekend in August, leading up to the saint’s day of Olite’s patron, the “Virgin of the Cholera” on August 26, which commemorates the town’s salvation from the cholera epidemic of 1885.
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Parque Natural Bardenas Reales
Parque Natural Bardenas Reales
The further south you travel in Navarra, the drier the landscape becomes, until it’s hard to believe you’re still in the Basque Country. Indeed, the extraordinary Parque Natural Bardenas Reales (Bardenas Reales Natural Park), 70km south of Pamplona, looks more like the deserts of the Wild West than anything you’d expect to find in Spain.
To reach these desolate, eerily beautiful badlands, detour east of the main north–south roads to reach the village of Arguedas, 20km north of Tudela, then follow the signs east. Entrance is free, but it’s worth stopping to pick up maps and advice at the information centre, 6km along. With an hour to spare, drivers can complete a short dirt-road loop to admire some of the most spectacular formations, including stark mesas, jagged striated hills, and bizarre isolated hoodoos. Any longer, and you can venture further off the beaten track into the back country, or explore the various clearly marked hiking trails.
