7. Day 3. Estella to Logrono

After breakfast we found the bike shop and retrived our bikes and sorted out the problems we were having. By this time it was 11am.  Far too late to start out on the journey to Logrono so we decided the only thing to do was to put the bikes on the bus. We had some time to fill in so we tried out the repaired bikes by exploring some of the sites of Estella. We started by riding through a beautiful park until we came to the magnificent Inglesis Parroquial del Santo Sepulcro which was originally built in the 12th century. It is believed to be the tomb of a Greek bishop who died on his way to Santiago carrying sacred relics. Opposite this is the Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra which is the only example of Romanesque architecture in Navarra. Estella is a major wine growing region. The town was founded in 1090 and Frankish settlers were granted the right to sell to passing pilgrims by the King Of Arragon. There was also a large number of Jewish settlers who had their own walled neighbourhood from 1135 until they were driven out in 1498.
We arrived in Logrono 3pm with plenty of time to explore this wonderful city which is the 3rd largest on the Camino. It's a pity we are here one week too early for the Harvest Festival to celebrate the grape harvest which sounds like it would be a lot of fun. We explored many of the back streets and in one poor looking area came across a group of Muslim women waiting outside the cathedral Santa Maria with empty shopping jeeps which we presumed would be filled with handouts. This cathedral was extremely opulent with two large towers dominating the city skyline. Logrona is well known for its tapas bars but unfortunately many of them do not start serving until 8.30pm which was far too late for these aged pilgrims so we settled for some Paella before heading to our beds for a good nights sleep before the next leg of our Camino. We 'll try to add some photos in a few days when  have a rest day in Leon. At the moment we are just doing well to keep blogging.
Today's quote "no matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch"