Today I intend to act as a compass arrow for you and point out a change of course, after the last post dedicated to that metaphorical and infinite empire of earth and sky, which is Castile.
To do this, I invite you to imagine that the arrow of the compass points in a very specific direction, towards the North of Spain, which, on the other hand, is synonymous with splendor, beauty, tradition, adventure and of course, of another condition, which I think any self-respecting traveler should always take into account: of mystery.
Our destiny, therefore, today focuses on a place on that impressive Cantabrian coast, whose temperamental waters have always been the source of inspiration for infinite legends and wonders: Laredo.
Even being documented as a town at an early age, such as the 11th century, it is known that the origins of Laredo are much older and in them it is worth noting, not only the presence of different and warlike Cantabrian ethnic groups, but also of its Roman conquerors. and the presence, in its waters, of those fierce sons of Odin, the Vikings, whose incursions were as frequent as they were feared, especially in places that, like Laredo, began as just small fishing villages.
It was, however, from that eleventh century, when the environment of the old neighborhood -known as Puebla Vieja (Old Town)- began to manifest itself, becoming that fantasy of medieval dreams, which still, oddly enough, continues to be today.
It is not surprising, therefore, that to reach the tops of these Chinese alleys, constantly surrounded by footlights and where architecture allies with mystery to consolidate a note of Dantesque adventure in the perceptions of the outsider, he has to start his journey in the lower area near the port, through a narrow street, whose name, Hell Hill Street, already indicates a thorny ordeal uphill, until reaching that place, trodden for countless centuries by the disastrous boots of the pilgrims, which is its majestic Gothic church - where, in all probability, the medieval stonemasons of neighboring Trasmiera left an active and passive part of their extraordinary knowledge of Sacred Geometry - which worships the figure of Our Lady of the Assumption.
But let no one be discouraged, because in this initiatory ascent, they will have the opportunity to run into the most varied demons, which in the form of taverns that still retain a good part of their arcane traditional charm, will be able to test them, with their picturesqueness and excellent quality. and variety of its food, the sobriety of its senses.
Some senses, which will not take long to be satisfied, when wandering through the chiaroscuro of some alleys whose narrowness can affect vertigo, begin to be carried away by the magic of the centuries, present in the facades of their houses, typical of medieval times to which they belong; in the magnificence of the great palaces that have fallen into disrepair -such as that of the Marquesa de Arcentales or the Torre del Condestable- located in the most relevant streets, such as Calle de Santa María and Calle de San Martín, the one in Tours, that good-natured who, according to tradition, split his Roman cloak in two to share it with a poor man and retired from active preaching in the fourth century, after the Council of Trent, after the Church committed its first political assassination, ordered to behead, for heresy, to Prisciliano, who was bishop of the Spanish city where Teresa de Jesús had her mystical experiences: Ávila.
The remains of the old walled enclosures -of the several that the city had and that served for people to take refuge, in case of attack and taking of the lower enclosures- badly wounded by the moss and the soulless embrace of time, will cause them the feeling of attending a metaphorical alchemical wedding, where ruin and decadence, believe it or not, were elements that came to inspire great architects, including the author of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona: Antonio Gaudí.
They will also discover part of the medieval greatness in the cryptic symbology of noble coats of arms, whose varied elements will be overwhelmingly disconcerting.
And they will interfere, in some way and based on the references that they will find along the way, in the life of relevant characters of the time, such as the princess Juana de Castilla, who remained wandering these same streets for seventeen days, before embarking for Flanders, where she married Phillip of Burgundy, also nicknamed the Handsome, like the King of France, whose conspiracy and desire for riches put an end to what was perhaps the most important of the Military Orders of the Middle Ages: the Order of the Temple.
Or you will see, likewise, that this was precisely the place to which the almighty father of King Felipe II was originally headed, before a terrible storm forced him to dock in the Asturian village of Tazones -about a hundred and fifty kilometers away, more or less- and they took him and his court for pirates: Emperor Charles I of Spain and V of Germany.
In short: a journey for the senses, where past and present merge into a formidable adventure, called History.
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NOTICE: Both the text, as well as the photographs that accompany it, as well as the video that illustrates it, are my exclusive intellectual property and, therefore, are subject to my Copyright.
