Luzaide/Valcarlos

Luzaide is a town in Navarre, northern Spain, located on the French border and just a few kilometers from the road frontier in the French village of Arnéguy. Tradition holds that this is the valley where Charlemagne's rear-guard, under the command of Roland, was slaughtered by Vascons at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778. Tradition holds that Charlemagne's troops were returning across the Pyrenees and had become stretched thin. The Vascons, unhappy with the Franks, fell upon the rear-guard and annihilated it. Roland sounded his horn but it was in vain as his horn was split upon a rock near Roncesvalles and he was slain along with his force. This battle at Valcarlos would prove to be Charlemagne's worst, and some say only, defeat in Iberia. Today's Luzaide is a conglomeration of historical family villas and farms. The family homes are traditional with many whitewashed exteriors and family crests or coats of arms on the exterior.