Luzaide/Valcarlos

Valcarlos is named after a very important historical event that took place in 778: the battle of Roncesvalles, in which the rearguard of Charlemagne's army was defeated by the Vascones.

Located in the “muga” (“border” in Basque) with the Lower Navarre, some 64 km from Pamplona, it is a narrow and steep valley, surrounded by forests and grooved by numerous fast streams. We invite you to delve into nature and discover this town best known for its “dantzaris”.

• Landscape: the valley where Valcarlos is located is one of the few Spanish territories located on the northern escarpment of the Pyrenees. Although on a steep incline, the surroundings of the town are dotted with small green meadows with white sheep grazing and white farmhouses, creating a picturesque landscape that seems taken from a “costumbrista” painting.
• Church of Santiago: dedicated to the saint as it stands in the middle of the Jacobean route and it is, at least, the third successive temple built on this same lot. It seems the first one was a medieval church that was destroyed during the War of the Convention (or “War of the Pyrenees”) in 1794. The second one was a church designed in a neoclassical style. The current one was designed by one of the most important Navarre-born architects: Florencio Ansoleaga, also the man behind the convent of the Salesians, the façades of the churches of San Lorenzo and of San Agustín – all of them in Pamplona. The altarpiece with the image of Saint James on his horse is also of good artistic quality, made at the workshop of the sculptor Florentino Istúriz