The town in need of some consonants: Aoiz

Cindy picked Aoiz for a day trip because it had a hiking trail to a famous hermitage or some such, so why not. When we arrived in the parking lot at the head of the trail, we were struck by this view of a medieval bridge. (Photos are from June 5; it was still cool here.)

This bridge across the Irati River dates to medieval times.

The Irati River, which it spans, is the same one that Hemingway fished in during his first visit to Pamplona. It had wonderful trout. That fishing trip was fictionalized famously in his first and best novel, "The Sun Also Rises", also known as "Fiesta". (Perhaps his worst novel is also about fishing and is the one that is most read, "The Old Man and the Sea", but we won't go there).

Speaking of old men, we ran into one by the map at the trail head. I asked him how local people pronounced the name of the town. "ah-oh-EETH", he said. I repeated "ah-oh-EETH", but evidently something was not to his satisfaction. So he said it again, a little louder and more emphatically. And I said back to him again what I thought I heard.

We went back and forth like this, but apparently I was a hopeless case. We chatted some more. The gentleman said he was 87 years old, retired for 27 years, walking with the help of a cane. He had worked in a furniture factory, if I'm not mistaken. He gave us some advice on what we should absolutely not miss on the hiking trail and headed off.  I should have taken his picture.

Senderos balizados, "marked trails" around Aoiz (Agoitz in Basque) and the reservoir.

The trail followed the Irati River for a while, and we saw some guys fly-fishing. We wondered if they were catching anything.


Devastating layoffs in Aoiz

The town is small, but 239 people, about a tenth of the population, had jobs at the Siemens Gamesa plant manufacturing rotor blades for wind-powered generators. But the company just announced it was closing the plant because it was not as efficient as other plants and was too far from ports for international shipping.

The Aoiz plant has produced blades for rotors that are 400 feet in diameter, but Siemens said the profitable market is for rotors of more than 500 feet in diameter. It would cost too much to modify the plant, the company said.

The Hermitage of San Román

We hiked up the trail to the site of a famous peace treaty, the Hermitage of San Román. In 1479, two aristocratic families that both claimed the throne of the Kingdom of Navarra agreed at this site to end 30 years of warfare.

From here we descended on a trail that took us through some lovely forest.

At the end of the trail, we saw the two guys who had been fishing. They were young, sitting down with their backs against a wall, having a smoke. I asked them if they had caught anything. No, they said. It's catch-and-release. They seemed kind of reluctant to talk. My gringo accent? Excessive curiosity? Old people are so annoying.  


Related:

We visit the home of the vultures and the eagles

The north coast of Spain and the birthplace of Ignatius Loyola

Exploring Navarra: the source of the rivers

The walled city of Artajona and ancient burial grounds