The Camino Aragonés

The camino splits shortly after passing through Jaca. The longer of the routes, which visits the monasteries of San Juan de la Peña is the most original of the two. Pilgrims being pilgrims, a shortcut was made which for its shortness has become a well-worn path parallel to the national road. If you can manage an additional 11.5km, you are advised to take the more southern route to the monasteries.

Both paths rejoin in Santa Cilia. 

NOTE: The Jaca to Puente la Reina stage splits just before Puente La Reina. Puente is actually on the Northern Route to Sangüesa. Crossing the bridge and entering Puente is not a large detour if you wish to follow the road to Arres (returning over the bridge), and there are services in Puente but no albergue.

The distance to Arres (on the Southern route) is about 4km from the Puente la Reina bridge.

The Iglesia de Santa Maria de Eunate is one of the most remarkable buildings on the Camino Frances, standing alone in a field about 1.5 km south of Murozabal. It's an octagonal 12th-century Romanesque church surrounded by a freestanding arcade of arches — a design so unusual that scholars have been arguing about its origins for centuries.

The name Eunate likely derives from the Basque for "hundred gates," a reference to the arcade's many openings. That arcade — roughly octagonal itself, with carved capitals and semicircular arches — surrounds the church at a slight distance, creating a covered walkway. It's unlike anything else in Navarra.

The Templar theory is popular but unproven. No documentary evidence links the church to the Knights Templar, though the octagonal form inevitably invites the comparison. The more likely builders were the Hospitallers, whose presence in this area is well documented. The church may have served as a funerary chapel for pilgrims who died on the road — pilgrim burials have been excavated in the surrounding field, and the octagonal plan echoes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, a common model for funerary architecture.

Inside, the church is bare and austere. The eight-ribbed vault rises to about 12 meters, with star-shaped openings in the ceiling that admit thin shafts of light. The alabaster windows keep the interior deliberately dark — appropriate for a church whose function may have been the performance of funerary rites. The Cordoban influence in the vault ribbing is unmistakable.

The church operates as a small museum with seasonal hours (generally 10:30-14:00 and 15:00-19:00 from late March through mid-October, with extended afternoon hours in July and August). A path connects Eunate directly to Obanos, so you can visit without backtracking to Murozabal.

Puente la Reina (Gares in Basque) is built along a single main street — the Calle Mayor — that runs from the Iglesia del Crucifijo at the eastern entrance to the famous medieval bridge at the western exit. In between lies a handsome town of stone houses, arcaded streets, and two churches worth seeing. The town's medieval grid of three parallel streets, laid out in the French bastide style, survives largely intact.

The Iglesia del Crucifijo, at the entrance to town, was founded by the Knights Templar in the late 12th century. It houses a striking Y-shaped crucifix — a 14th-century work, likely of German Rhineland origin, that arrived here via pilgrim hands. The unusual shape, with Christ's arms raised above his head on a tree-like cross, makes it unlike any other crucifix on the Camino. The church has two naves: the original Romanesque nave and a Gothic addition from the 14th century.

Further along the Calle Mayor, the Iglesia de Santiago has a Romanesque doorway with a multilobed arch showing Moorish influence — one of the finest carved portals in Navarra. Inside is the Santiago Beltza, a 14th-century Gothic wooden statue of Santiago Peregrino, darkened by age and once coated in soot. The name means "Black Santiago" in Basque.

The bridge itself — the Puente de los Peregrinos — is a six-arched Romanesque span over the Arga, 110 meters long, with smaller vent arches between the main arches to handle flood waters. It originally had three defensive towers, though only fragments of one survive. Cross it at the end of the day when the light hits the stone and you'll understand the fuss.

Several albergues operate in town, along with a handful of hotels and pensiones. Bars and restaurants line the main street, and there's a supermarket for provisions. The town has a pharmacy and an ATM. If you're arriving from the Camino Aragones via Eunate, you'll enter from the south and join the Frances here.