Luzaide/Valcarlos

Luzaide, the Basque name of the village of Valcarlos [its castellano version] is located just a few kilometers from the French border and the village of Arnéguy.

Tradition holds that this is the valley ["val"-] where Charlemagne's ["Carolus Magnus"] rear-guard, under the command of Roland ["Spanish": Orlando] was slaughtered by Navarros in 778. Tradition holds that Charlemagne's troops were returning across the Pyrenees and had become stretched thin. The Navarros, unhappy with the Franks, fell upon the rear-guard and annihilated it. Roland sounded his horn but it was in vain as his horn was split upon a rock near Roncesvalles and he was slain along with his force. This battle at Valcarlos would prove to be Charlemagne's worst, and some say only, defeat in Iberia.

Today's Luzaide is a conglomeration of historical family villas and farms. The family homes are traditional with many whitewashed exteriors and family crests or coats of arms on the exterior. Many of the local landowners, such as the owners of Curutzezahar, a family home one kilometer up the hillside from the village center, have turned their homes into bed-and-breakfast style lodgings for the growing rural tourism industry in the Basque Country ["Euskadi"] . Historically, families would be less associated with the town in which they lived and more with the home in which they were raised. Thus, using the prior home name, "Curutzezaharreko" would denote "one who is from the house of Curutzezahar. The local cemetery shows this regional nomenclature on many headstones.

The town lies on the Camino de Santiago or Camino Frances to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. There are two routes through the region, one of which passes through the town. There is a modern monument to the pilgrimage road near the city hall representing a recumbent pilgrim. According to the locals, who make no apologies to Roncesvalles, which is located a few kilometers further along the road, Luzaide/Valcarlos is the true jumping off point for pilgrims in Spain that are traveling to Santiago.

External links

* [http://www.euskomedia.org/euskomedia/SAunamendi?idi=en&op=7&voz=LUZAIDE/VALCARLOS LUZAIDE/VALCARLOS in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa)] es icon
* [http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk Walking the Camino de Santiago, A Guide] One of the many early beautiful Spanish towns.