The day dawned sunny and warmer, and we decided to visit a Roman Villa and Lumbier Gorge, where we had walked in the past.
Villa Romana de Liedena
The Roman Villa of Liedena1 was the first such site in Spain which was fully excavated and researched, and was used as a template for future excavations. The site was found only in 1921, and excavations were carried out from 1942-47; it has been dated as 200-400AD. There is some uncertainty about the purpose of the site – was it a villa? Or was it perhaps a small settlement cum posting house and storage point on the road between Pamplona and Zaragoza?
There are a number of Roman sites2 in Navarre, but they can be inaccessible. We visited one, at Andelos, when we stayed at Olite.
Gorge of Lumbier
The Irati River in Navarre carved out the spectacular Lumbier Gorge through limestone cliffs. The walk from the car park is c.2.5 kms and the cliffs are sometimes as high as 400 metres above the river. Lots of birds roost in the cliffs, including Alpine swifts, peregrine falcons, bearded vultures, golden eagles, and eagle owl. But in particular you can see many griffon vultures. Apparently Spain is their main ‘home’, where there are over 17,000 pairs. They were circling overhead all the time, and reminded us of the vultures we had seen in another gorge, outside Lerma.
The path is flat and easily walked; it was once the El Irati electric railway line[enf_note]https://memoriasdelviejopamplona.com/2015/03/imagenes-del-ayer-el-irati-su-paso-por.html[/efn_note] linking Pamplona and Sanguesa, 1911-55. There are two tunnels along the route, and we took a torch – one of the tunnels is quite long! Apparently they were cut by hand out of the rocks.
And then we saw the notice below, attached to the cliff face. Jose Luis Hervas Manas was a member of the Guardia Civil and had been sent to the gorge in June 1990 because an increase in hikers had led to an increase in trouble, including theft. He saw three men acting suspiciously and went to investigate; they were members of ETA and they shot him. Sergeant Manas was married, 33 years old, with two children.
After 6/7 kms in th Lumbier Gorge we were ready to sit down and ‘repaired’ to a bar which we had previously used, in Lumbier. It was warm, the beer was cold, and the croquettes very good!
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