A Family History Visit to the Pyrenees

Uztarroz, Navarra, Spain

My mother-in-law, Maria, was born in the tiny village of Orbaiceta in Navarra, Spain.  This village now has less than 200 people (2017 census), and it is located in the Pyrenees.  It is the last village in Spain before the French border, and she was born in the last house up on hill above the village. You would have to cross over the mountains to France to find the next house.

When she was still a baby, her family removed to the next valley, to the village of Uztarroz, which has about 146 people according to the 2017 census (Wikipedia).  Her father was a carabinero, which was a type of border police, until this force was absorbed into the Guardia Civil in Spain.  The family moved many times during her childhood, especially during the Spanish Civil War.  She lived in Uztarroz until she was about seven years old, after her first communion. My mother-in-law never returned to Navarra or to her childhood villages. At least until this month!

We have tried to bring her to Navarra to see Orbaiceta and Uztarroz, and finally this year she agreed to take the trip. Earlier in May, on Mother's Day in Spain (first Sunday in May), we visited her in Madrid, and took her by train to the city of Pamplona. Then we drove up into the valleys of Pyrenee Mountains to see these villages. Here are the photos of that trip!

The Church of Santa Engracia, where Maria had her first communion around 1940.
The church dates from the 1500s. 

Maria's First Communion, circa 1940

Just by luck, the first woman we met in the street
happened to be the mayor of the town. She
had the key to let us into the church. 

The altar inside Santa Engracia Church

Maria lived in this house, on the second floor,
until she was about seven years old

Next to her childhood house was this little bridge
over a stream. Maria is gesturing to tell us the
size of the rats that used to be found nearby! 

When we left Uztarroz we had to climb up out of one valley into the next valley to find the village of Orbaiceta

This is how the GPS looked climbing up the Pyrenees!
One switchback after another to climb the hills

Orbaiceta, Navarra, Spain (on the French border)

Vincent exploring San Pedro Church in Orbaiceta

The streets were so narrow, I couldn't get the entire church in the photo!
This is the church of San Pedro, where Maria was baptized.

1934, Maria's baptism

This typical house in the town of Orbaiceta is called an "horreo".
It was built on stone pillars, with the animals kept underneath.

The tiny streets of the village of Orbaiceta

The drive back to Pamplona was just as beautiful as
our trip up to the mountains. 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Family History Visit to the Pyrenees", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 21, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-family-history-visit-to-pyrenees.html: accessed [access date]).