Olite

Yesterday, I took a day trip with some friends to Olite, which is a small pueblo south of Pamplona in Navarra. It only took about an hour (via bus) to get there, and there is a castle from the 1400s in the center of the city. In addition, Olite is the wine capital of Navarra with a wine museum and three major bodegas (wineries). Navarra is the wine country in Spain, and especially in southern Navarra there are lots of vineyards and bodegas! Olite is a really fun place for a day trip!

I went with my roommate Kristen, another girl from South Carlina, and her friend who's from India but is currently studying in France. The bus ride was pretty, and we went by various mountains, rolling hills and pastures, small towns, and vineyards, arriving in Olite around 11:30 a.m. and proceeding to find the castle. We chose the perfect day to visit- it was sunny with blue skies,  and the temperature got up into the 50s in the afternoon! The town was really quiet, so there were hardly any people there and it seemed like more of an authentic experience than the bigger tourist destinations...  The town itself is really small and authentic, with narrow alleys lined with old tall Spanish-style housing and shops.

 (Olite, with the castle in the background)

The castle in Olite is called 'El Castillo Real de Olite (The Royal Palace of Olite) and was built in the early 1400s. Later, it was converted into a palace, but was destroyed in the Napoleanic wars and since has been restored into a castle. There aren't many decorations inside, but all of the walls, floors, patios, gardens, moats, stairs, and towers are made of stone. When the castle was a palace, it apparently was one of the most luxurious palaces of Europe! The castle has three areas: the Old Palace (now a hotel), the ruins of the chapel of St. George, and the New Palace (where people can visit). It was really cool to see all of the areas of the castle (including things like the vaulted chamber, the chamber of arches, various towers, the keep, the king and queen's chambers and galleries, the ice well, and various patios). We had to climb lots of narrow stone spiral stairs to get to the top of the towers, and at the highest points of the castle we had fantastic views of other parts of the castle, the town, and the nearby countryside. It only cost 3.50 euros to get in (about $5) and was a really neat experience! 

 

 

After the castle, we went to a medieval-themed bar for lunch (Kristen and I had tortilla patata bocadillos (bascially an omelet sandwich) from Peñi so we didn't have to buy anything). It was a really neat place, and they sold locally made wine for only 80 cents a glass! There was a couple from the town that came over and started talking to us too- they were SO nice, and curious about what we were doing in Spain and in Olite! They said to come back and say hi to them if we see them. The people here are SO amazingly friendly- I love it.

Next, we waited in an old plaza with a view of the castle for about  half an hour until the wine museum opened after the lunch siesta at 3. The warm sun felt amazing, and it was fun to watch the kids playing on the other side of the plaza and to just relax and take in our surroundings. The wine museum was interesting and went through the history of wine, the process of growing grapes and making wine, and the various aspects of wine tasting. There are so many factors in making a good wine; reading about it will make tasting wine in the future a lot more interesting...

(near the chapel, with the plaza in the background)

(relaxing in the plaza)

(some Navarran wines on display in the museum)

Finally, we visited a small shop with locally made products such as chocolate, preserves and spreads, lotions, pastries, and other authentic items... I ended up buying a bar of chocolate made with honey that was made in Navarra! I'm excited to try it- I've never heard of putting honey in chocolate before! We ended our visit by getting dessert in a pastry and dessert café. The bus left at 5:30 and I was home by 7:00. The whole day didn't cost much at all, and was the perfect weekend day excursion :) I would highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be visiting Navarra!!

 (my dessert at the café!)