Breiner on the road: The walled city of Artajona and ancient burial grounds

Tuesday, July 07, 2020

The walled city of Artajona and ancient burial grounds

The walls and tower of Artajona date to the 12th century.

Cindy loves castles and walled cities, and there are plenty of them in Spain. One is less than an hour away, in the town of Artajona, which has 14 towers. The fortress was first built about 900 years ago. Invading armies have found an easy path into and out of Spain through Navarra.

Local history is a chronicle of kings (who are like warlords) and princes (who are like gang leaders) pillaging back and forth, taking each other's land, goods, and people. The winners then build churches to honor the divine powers and saints who made it all possible.

We took the scenic route to reach the dolmens of Artajona.

Before arriving there, though, we wanted to look at the nearby funerary dolmens that have been dated at between 4,000 and 5,000 years old. Little is known about the people who built them except the tools they used and the types of animals and plants that were part of their diet.

These burial sites were excavated and opened to the public in the 1990s.

We bumped into an older guy at the dolmens, and I chatted him up. Turns out that he spent his summers with his grandparents nearby the site of the dolmens. At that time, the site had not been completely excavated.

There were no paths or stairs or signs, he said. It was not a tourist destination. It was a place where kids would play. He was retired now. He stopped several times and looked around. He said he was trying to identify the places where he and his friends used to play.

In the video below, you can see the lovely forest path that leads to the megalithic burial stones. Wildflowers are on either side, and the stones can be seen toward the end, at the top of the frame.