Bridge of a Queen

Travellers have had a tough time of things for centuries, and I ain't talking blisters. Especially pilgrims. They were often robbed, beaten and killed along the way. Rivers that were too big to ford meant a business opportunity for a man with a small boat, but it also meant overcharging those who had no other option.

To their rescue at last came a queen, unknown definitively, but either dona Mayor (wife of Sancho III) or dona Estefania (wife of Sancho III's successor) who commissioned a bridge to be built, and a lovely bridge it remains 1,000 years later. So lovely the entire town was called Puente la Reina.

There is another lovely story connected to this bridge. There used to be a tower on the bridge, with a statue of the Virgin Mary set in it. At various times throughout the early and mid-1800s, a lark was recorded as flying round and round the statue, and bells could be heard ringing without human effort expended. Locals thrilled to see the bird, which was not scared off by any noise or attention. During one of these periods the local general, who scoffed at the so-called miracle, put the lark in a box. Shortly afterward he was taken prisoner during one of the Carlist wars. The lark was recorded to visit for a decade or so later.

This tiny place has other charms. It runs primarily along one street, with houses facing each other barely 20 feet apart. They were originally one storey, but rather than expand into to many other streets, they tended to build up, so the top storeys' architecture can clearly be seen above the original.

There is a wonderful church of Santiago, in existence for almost 1,000 years, filled with Romanesque and Baroque retablos and paintings and sculptures. Everything is covered in gold or polished silver, which was meant to add to the glory of God no doubt, but was also the source of much destruction and death to the new world countries from whence it was brought, so I have very mixed emotions seeing its blaze in the dim light.

I preferred the smaller church we saw just as we entered the town, a tiny, dark, Romanesque place with a gothic nave added in the 14th century. There is little decoration, but it holds a crucifixion statue that is unique in all of Spain. for one thing, Jesus is on a Y shaped cross. It is also carved using a variety of stylistic elements from Germany, Italy and Spain, so somewhen back then there was a well-travelled carver.

There is also a wonderful, modern stone piece of the bereaved Madonna holding her dead, recumbent son Jesus, a Pieta. The original, 12th century one was stolen not all that long ago, but turned up again after a replacement piece was installed. The piece that is there now I found very arresting, and its modern aesthetics worked oddly well with the ancient crucifix.