Calahorra: Roman streets and market gardens above the Ebro

The cathedral stands low beside the Cidacos, where tradition says the Roman soldiers Emeterio and Celedonio were beheaded around the year 300. Work began in 1484 in Gothic style, and a baroque front came later. Its museum fills the cloister. Look for a 12th-century Bible written on parchment, a silver monstrance given by King Henry IV and part of a 15th-century Torah scroll. One ticket covers the church and the museum, with an audio guide. Tourist visits stop on Sundays and religious holidays, and during services.

The Plaza del Raso is the town’s main square and its meeting place. On one side stands the neoclassical church of Santiago. On another is the Mercado de Abastos, the market hall from 1945, with the tourist office inside. The town is turning the hall into a food hall, with stalls for tasting, local produce and small bars. Come on a Thursday morning, when growers sell their vegetables on the square outside.

Calahorra’s Jewish community lived at the very top of the town, behind its own wall. By the 15th century about 600 people lived here, until the expulsion of 1492. The poet and scholar Abraham ibn Ezra spent his last years in Calahorra. Little is left above ground, but the narrow streets keep their medieval shape and plaques mark the old limits. From the Rasillo de San Francisco and the balcony on Calle Cabezo, you look down over the Ebro and Cidacos valleys.

You can trace the Roman town on foot. The Paseo del Mercadal, today’s main promenade, follows the line of the Roman circus, and pieces of its walls show at the far end. On Calle Murallas, the base of a tower and a stretch of first-century wall known as El Sequeral stand in the open. The Arco del Planillo was once a Roman gate on the road to Zaragoza. La Clínica, a public building with baths, can be seen from the outside. The town’s symbol, the marble sculpture called the Dama de Calahorra, was found here.

This museum tells the story of Roman Calagurris. It fills a 1930 mansion known locally as the “millionaire’s house”, with its original stained glass and what may be La Rioja’s oldest lift. About a thousand pieces fill five rooms: coins made in the town, soldiers’ weapons, mosaics and the Dama de Calahorra herself. The museum closed in late 2025 for energy and access works. Check with the tourist office that it has reopened before you plan around it.

Calahorra calls itself the city of vegetables, and this small museum shows why. It sits in a 16th-century convent building on the lane that climbs up from the cathedral. Touchscreens and games explain how the gardens along the rivers are worked. Dresses made from vegetables for the town’s own fashion show hang on display. It opens only part of the week. The Plaza de la Verdura, a viewpoint in the old town, looks out over the orchards of the Cidacos valley.

The Carmen sanctuary stands just outside the old town, on the far bank of the Cidacos. Carmelite friars built it in the early 1600s, and they stayed for about four hundred years, until 2020. Look at the main doors: they are carved wood from around 1888, covered in scenes of the Virgin Mary. Inside is a baroque statue of Our Lady of Carmel, thought to be by Gregorio Fernández. A short walk further on stands a 16th-century stone cross under four arches. Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago along the Ebro passed it on their way into town. The convent next door is being turned into a home for older people, so the church may not always be open.

This greenway starts at the Parque del Cidacos in Calahorra and runs for about 34 km up the valley to Arnedillo. It follows the line of a small railway, “El Trenillo”, which closed in the 1960s. The path is gentle and signposted. It passes Autol, Quel and Arnedo, and two tall rock pillars called El Picuezo and La Picueza. Ride one way and arrange a lift back, or walk the first flat section through the orchards.

The Senderos de la Verdura are five walking routes around the town, about 100 km in all. Most are flat and easy. They follow the poplar groves along the Ebro and the orchards and springs of the Cidacos. One climbs to the pines and the viewpoint of Pico La Mesa. Ask at the tourist office for the routes.

Alfaro, 25 minutes east, has one of the largest groups of storks nesting on a single building anywhere. About a hundred nests sit on the roof of its Colegiata de San Miguel. From the square below you hear the birds clatter their beaks. April and May are the best months to see them.

Just outside the town, on the road to Rincón de Soto, this park keeps more than 150 birds of prey. The main pull is the flying displays: one with birds that hunt by day, one with owls. It opens at weekends and on holidays, so it suits a Saturday or Sunday, especially with children. Tickets are sold on its Spanish-language website (just use browser translation to use in your own language).