Torla to Jaca Rain Day

With storms predicted for our last day in the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park, we decided to not risk another hike. The truth was my feet, no, whole body was so tired that if the others decided to go, I was going to get stoned on café con leche in the hotel and just relax watching the weather. Wisely, we all voted not to risk a miserable, wet hike, and our spectacular trip host, Jeremy, quickly put together a tour of a few of the typical mountain villages we had been seeing from highway distance as we traveled.

Eventually, we wound up in Jaca, home of a still-solid, pentagon-shaped fortress called the Citadel, a fortification dating to the late 16th century and the only fortress in the world in this style of construction still standing. I'm thinking this is where the Pentagon in the US got the idea. There was a terribly bored herd of deer living in the moat of the fortress, a concept that didn't really make sense, especially to the deer.

We also toured an enormous 11th-century Romanesque cathedral containing the Diocesan Museum of Jaca. The museum is purported to contain the best collection of Romanesque and Gothic church art in Spain and maybe all of Europe. As it was explained to us, in each of the mountain village churches, the chapel had it's own art work visually explaining the Christian story to the mostly illiterate villagers. Because so many of these churches were being abandoned, monies were raised to carefully remove the artwork to this museum and and another in Madrid. In one case the museum actually built a replica of the whole chapel from which the artwork originated. We were only there ninety minutes before it closed and just got a sampling of these beautiful paintings, statues, old carvings of the Blessed Virgin, and other artifacts. It was, in fact, a really good Catholic history museum.

We took our tapas in the Jaca old town. The weather had rather suddenly turned sunny just in time for our meal. Jaca turned out to be another great stop and another of the many occasions to be grateful for our trip shepherd, Jeremy. If you're thinking about a trip to this part of the world, or maybe take on one of the Camino de Santiago routes, Jeremy offers supported trips, self-guided trips, and customized itinerary expeditions, like ours, all over Spain. For me, this week was like traveling with a country-literate pal who is excited to share his world with you. Check out his services at: IberianAdventures.com.

That evening, the predicted storm finally did hit, big time. It was great to experience such dramatic weather from the security of our hotel. We really felt sorry for those who chose to hike in the canyons that day, and all the happier for our great rest-day experience. We had our final celebration dinner that night in Torla, at an Asador or restaurant specializing in grilled food. Combined with local wine, it was the perfect end to a physical week, full of natural beauty, interesting cultural experiences, and flat out great people.

I'll plug in a couple of pictures at the end...

Tomorrow we're off on the 2.5 hour drive to Pamplona to get the rental car for our next leg of the trip into the heart of Rioja wine country. Sadly, we'll be saying goodbye to Jeremy who has made it all so easy.

The next post will tell the story of what Rioja wine country holds in store for us. Good chance there will be delicious wine and at least one hike near a vineyard.

Till then, blessings to all and vaya con Dios,

Earl, Gwen and Max