By meaggymurphy
Blurb: Visiting a castle is a pretty decent want to spend a day, and I was lucky enough to get to go see an unexpectedly beautiful castle here in Navarra this past weekend. The fall foliage and beautiful weather made the experience that much more enchanting. The town where this castle is hidden, Olite, was also charming and definitely a hidden gem of the region. The only things that were missing from the experience were the dragons and Gandolf. #medieval #palace #spain #daytrip #GWU #GWAbroad
This past weekend, I got to see two things I love: my friend Sara (who is currently studying in Barcelona) and more of the countryside surrounding Pamplona. When Sara visited, we decided to go visit a nearby town called Olite, about a half hour away from where I live. Bus rides around this region of Spain are painless because of how pretty the mountains and roadside towns are; especially now that it's fall, the colors are changing from sunny greens and yellows to rustic golds and reds.
Once we got to Olite, we decided to stroll around and get situated in the little town. We entered a souvenir shop (where it's always ok to be a tourist) and asked where the center of town and restaurants were. The girl working behind the desk laughed a little and said, "This is it!" Apparently we were already in the middle of the town, which consisted of a plaza, the souvenir shop, a couple restaurants, and town hall. So, first thing's first, we sat down at a table in the plaza belonging to one of the restaurants and ordered some lunch.
After lunch, the next stop was the Palacio Real of Olite. At first, Sara and I almost made the HUGE mistake of being deterred by the entrance fee of 2 euros (later, we marveled at everything we had come so close to missing out on). Thankfully, we decided to go in. I had never really realized that I had never been in a legitimate medieval castle, unless you count Cinderella's Castle in Disney World, which I admittedly did before this visit.
This castle was built between the 13th and 14th centuries by King Charles III "The Noble" of Navarra. It's a Gothic palace, with geometric decorations over windows and spiral staircases leading up to one of two towers that overlook the town and the mountains. It's known for the disorder of it's design, but I thought it was more whimsical than unorganized. My favorite part of the whole palace was a square courtyard surrounded by a covered walkway with tall Gothic windows that allow you to see into the garden in the center. However, this wasn't the best part of the courtyard. The most enchanting part was the vines surrounding the walkway because they were bright, florescent red. After seeing all this, Sara and I were kicking ourselves for having almost not gone into the palace. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen since arriving here in Spain. It get like walking onto the set of Game of Thrones or into a scene from Lord of the Rings.
After running around the Palace for a while, it was time to head back to Pamplona. Looking back afterwards at the pictures we took, I still can't get over how pretty it all was. Everything was perfect- the weather, the castle, the views, and being able to go with my friend made it one of my favorite days! I've written about hidden gems before, and I'll do it again. They're the best because, like the Palacio Real de Olite, they're surprising and always exceed expectations. And, it's never a bad way to spend a day feeling like a medieval princess.