Climb the Torre Abacial

The Torre Abacial is the tower of the old fortress, attached to the church of Santa María de los Reyes. The tourist office shows it in a daily session with advance booking: Monday to Saturday at 10:45 and on Sundays and public holidays at 11:45. Entry costs €3, or €2 reduced, with 40 places per session.

It fits well before the visit to the Santa María portico, which is next door. From the top you can see how the town watched over the pass between Navarre, Castile and the Ebro valley. The stairs are narrow: do not take a pushchair up.

A defensive tower

Laguardia was born as a stronghold. The Basque Government recalls that in the 10th century Sancho Abarca ordered a castle to be built on top of the hill to defend Navarre, and that in 1164 Sancho VI granted the town the charter that would govern its residents' lives. The north of the old town, the highest part, was the seat of power: there stood the castle, the church of Santa María and this tower, which with the wall protected the town on that side. The castle was destroyed in the 19th century; the tower still stands.

The Torre Abacial was begun in the 12th century, when Laguardia obtained its charter. It is a free-standing tower, separate from the church, square in plan and with ashlar walls, divided into four sections. The two lower ones are closed and solid, as befits a defensive tower; the two upper ones open on all four sides. The oldest parts, from the end of the 12th century or the start of the 13th, are the paired windows and the arch between the second and third sections, in transitional Romanesque style.

The wall that went with it had eight turrets and five gates, of which the San Juan gate is the only one that keeps its medieval appearance.

The visit

• Sessions: Monday to Saturday at 10:45; Sundays and public holidays at 11:45.
• Price: €3; reduced, €2.
• Capacity: 40 places per session.
• Booking: compulsory, on the Turismo de Laguardia website, at the office on Calle Mayor 52, on 945 600 845 or at [email protected].

At the top, the tower serves as a viewpoint over the rooftops of the old town and the vineyards around it. Go up in comfortable shoes and without hurrying, because the staircase is narrow.

How to fit it in

As the session is first thing, the tower is a good way to start the day. Afterwards you have the guided visit to Santa María de los Reyes, next door, and at midday the tourist office cellar, at 13:00 on weekdays and Sundays. In the afternoon, a tasting at the El Fabulista winery or a walk round the lagoons. Leave the car outside the wall: the old town is pedestrianised.