NAVARRA

The Castle of Xabier (in Basque: Xabierko Gaztelua; in Spanish: Castillo de Javier) is located on a hill in the town of Javier (Navarre, Spain), to 52 km east of Pamplona and 7 km east of Sangüesa. Built in the 10th century. In this castle was born and raised the Saint Francis Xavier, son of the Lords of Xavier, and from there took his surname.

The Citadel of Pamplona or New Castle is a Renaissance fortification of ancient military use, built between the XVI and XVII in the city of Pamplona, capital of Navarre (Spain), which remains today much of it standing as garden and cultural activities in their buildings.

Santa María la Real de Irache (also Hyrache, or, in Basque, Iratxe) is a former Benedictine monastery located in the town of Ayegui,Navarre, Spain. It dates from the eighth century, although the surviving buildings are later.

The monastery has been protected as a monument since 1877. In 2007 the buildings, apart from the church, were designated for conversion into a Parador. As at 2012 the project has yet to be completed.^[1] The parador is intended to offer high-quality accommodation to travellers on the Way of St. James.

Adjacent to the monastery is a winery called Bodegas Irache, which continues a tradition of viticulture which dates from monastic times.

The festival of San Fermín (or Sanfermines, Basque: Sanferminak) in the city of Pamplona (Navarre, Spain), is a deeply rooted celebration held annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the party is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo,^[1] to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí. While its most famous event is the encierro, or the running of the bulls, which happens at 8:00 am from July 7th to July 14th, the week long celebration involves many other traditional and folkloric events. It is known locally as Sanfermines and is held in honor of Saint Fermin, the co-patron of Navarre. Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of English-speaking people. It has become probably the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain. Over 1,000,000 people come to watch this festival.