Calahorra

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Calahorra is a city and municipality in La Rioja, Spain. It sits on a hill at 358 meters above sea level where the Ebro and Cidacos rivers meet. The area covers about 93 square kilometers and has around 25,000 residents. It is the second-largest city in La Rioja after Logroño and plays an important service role in the region.

Location and connections
Calahorra lies about 48 kilometers from Logroño, 120 kilometers from Zaragoza, and 180 kilometers from Bilbao. It is well connected by the N-232 road, the A-68 motorway, and the Bilbao–Zaragoza rail line. Daily buses link the city with Pamplona, Soria, and San Sebastián.

History and sights
People have lived in Calahorra since the Paleolithic era. In the Iron Age it grew, and under Roman rule it became Calagurris Nassica Iulia, an important administrative center. The city withstood Sertorius’ war against Pompey, and after being taken by Pompey’s forces it later gained distinctions and municipal status from Julius Caesar and Augustus. Roman ruins show a circus, baths, and an amphitheater; the city minted its own coins and served as a justice center. The grammarian Quintilian was born there, and the Parador hotel is named after him.

The city’s patron saints are Emeterius and Celedonius, martyred around 305 AD; the cathedral is dedicated to them and their names appear on Calahorra’s coat of arms. The Christian poet Prudentius may also have lived there in the 4th century.

After Moorish rule, King García Sánchez III of Pamplona captured Calahorra in 1045. It hosted one of Castile’s oldest Jewish communities, documented by 1145. About 120 Jewish households lived there before the 1492 expulsion; many left rather than convert, and the synagogue was later converted into a church. The town had grown to around 7,000 people by the 1840s.