Navarra

This small village at the foot of the Ibañeta Pass is the first major stop on the Camino de Santiago after crossing the Pyrenees. Its focal point is the Royal Collegiate Church of Santa María with the Augustinian monastery, founded in 1132. In this area, Basques annihilated Charlemagne's rearguard under Roland on August 15, 778, an event that became the basis for the Song of Roland.

In the castle on a hill near Sangüesa, Saint Francis Xavier, the patron saint of Navarre, was born. Its origins date back to the 10th century; the dilapidated complex was rebuilt and a basilica added at the end of the 19th century. A museum recounts the saint's life; in early March, the castle is the destination of the great Javierada pilgrimage.

Covering approximately 17,000 hectares, the Selva de Irati is Europe's second-largest beech-fir forest, after the Black Forest. Access is via Orbaizeta in the Aezkoa Valley and Ochagavía in the Salazar Valley; the 1922-completed Irabia Reservoir lies within the forest. In autumn, the leaves turn, and the deer rut can be heard in the forests.

Near Lumbier, about 35 kilometers from Pamplona, the Río Irati has carved a good kilometer-long gorge through the limestone. The rock faces, 150 to 400 meters high, host a large colony of Griffon Vultures, and Egyptian Vultures also breed here. The area is protected as a nature reserve.