Cycling on the Camino de Santiago

Fantastic weather at the weekend so Fabian and I took the oppotunity to cycle a section of the Camino de Santiago from Jaca to a village called Santa Cruz de las Seros. From Jaca to take the Camino de Santiago all the way to Santiago de Compostela is 830km – our day wasn’t quite that ambitious!

The village of Atarés with Peña Oroel in the background

On the way we passed through the little village of Atarés which was fabulously tranquil with just 46 inhabitants. It had a a lovely little plaza with a well and a traditional stone bread oven. You don’t see many of these around and the ones I do know are all in ruined states in uninhabited villages so it was great to see one in good condition – it looks like it’s still used from time to time too.

A traditional bread oven

The church had a sundial mounted on the wall which was telling the right time – not sure how it copes with the change from winter to summer time!

Sundial at Atares

Our route finished at Santa Cruz de las Seros which is derived from the old Spanish for ‘sisters of the cross’. It was the location of a very important concent. The village is near the monastery of San Juan de la Peña where three kings of Aragon are buried. On the kings deaths their queens where sent to the convent to live the life of a nun and be near their dead husbands – equality had a way to go in those days! At one stage the convent was the richest in Spain although all that remains of it today is the Romaesque church.

Church at Santa Cruz de las Seros

The church is interesting in that inside it has a door set high in the wall that gives access to asteep narrow staircase that’s built into the wall. This leads to a room above the church. No one knows what this room was used for – popular ideas are that important convent meetings were helld there or a particularly religious nun lived there. There’s no other church in the area that has a room like this.

Great days cycling and fantastic weather.