My first Camino will start from Roncesvalles on Easter Sunday, 4 weeks from today!! I am mucho excited. . .and unfortunately that is about the extent of my Spanish at this point!
Previous threads on Romanesque churches have been very useful but I'm hoping the forum members can help me with specific information about how one can get to some of the churches and monasteries that lie off the Camino. If there is an albergue near the churches, I would probably walk (if not too far). But if not, then I'm wondering if there are taxis (formal or informal) or buses from the closest Camino point. Also, any comments on the churches etc would be most appreciated. The particular churches/monasteries I'm hoping to visit are: 1. San Millan de la Corolla; 2. Santo Domingo de Silos; 3. San Juan de Banos; 4. San Miguel de Escalada; and 5. Santiago de Penalba.
Also, I'm planning to go to stop in Jaca on the way to Roncesvalles and am still a bit confused (after trying to read all the previous comments) on how best to visit San Juan de la Pena. Are there buses? How much is a taxi? Is the TI in Jaca helpful?
I REALLY appreciate this forum and all the wonderful experience and helpfulness of those who spring forward to answer questions! Hope I get to meet some of you on the Camino!
Muchas gracias!
Hi, Cathryn,
Castilian has given you a lot of great information, and here is a bit more. A lot of this will depend on how much time you have because these detours, though wonderful, can be a bit time consuming.
San Millan -- The last time I walked the Frances, we met a man who walked every day from his home in Santo Domingo about 10 km each way. He offered to take us to visit the site -- even came and picked us up in the albergue in Belorado and then drove us to the monastery, which we very much enjoyed. If you're lucky, he's still walking the Camino, but I suppose the odds are very low that you will meet him. But you never know, there are lots of camino angels out there. Of the five you mention, this was my least favorite, maybe because of the commercialization and the crowds going to the adjacent Yuso monastery. But I recognize that it has a lot of historical significance and think it's worth a visit.
Santo Domingo de Silos -- Actually, this is on the Ruta de la Lana coming up from the south (it intersects with the Frances in Burgos) and there is a well marked route from there to Burgos. It would be a two or three day walk depending on whether you wanted to take the "direct route" through Mecerreyes or the little detour (on another Camino, the Camino San Olav) to visit what looks like a pretty amazing visigothic church at Quintanilla de las Vinas (more info on the route here:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...thic-jewel-south-of-burgos.36974/#post-371350). If you do take a bus from Burgos out and plan to take a bus back, it is my understanding that you will in fact need to spend a night there if part of the reason for your trip is to attend one of the services with Gregorian chants. If you walk back from Santo Domingo, you get the added bonus of passing through Covarrubias with its pretty Romanesque church.
San Juan de Banos -- the Camino Olvidado (from Bilbao to Ponferrada) passes through the town where this church is. It was a great rest stop and visit, extremely interesting. It was day 6 on this route:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...dado-viejo-camino-camino-de-la-montaña.28456/
San Miguel de la Escalada -- very much worth a visit. This happens to be on the Camino Vadiniense coming down to Mansilla from the north, so again it will be very well marked, but there is really no place for you to stay near San Miguel de la Escalada, at least not to my knowledge. There is an albergue in Gradefes (where there's another Romanesque monastery) on the Vadiniense, and the next day to Mansilla would be a do-able stage with a stop in San Miguel, but its opening time is quite late, if I'm remembering right, like around 11. That may make it a late walking day. Getting out to Gradefes, the easiest way, I think, is a bus from Leon. So if I were you, I'd either just take a cab out and back from Mansilla, or take the bus from Leon, stay in the albergue in Gradefes, walk to Mansilla the next day, and then if you've already walked into Leon, just hop on a bus back to Leon.
And oh, you've saved the best for last. Penalba de Santiago is just amazing. Not only is the church a gem, the whole town is pretty gorgeous. It's a wonderful detour from either El Acebo or Ponferrada, and I think this is probaby the prettiest three day walk I've ever done in Spain. More information here:
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...n-splendor-from-ponferrada-or-el-acebo.27697/
Hope you're able to visit some of these spots. As you can see, a lot of them are actually on other caminos, so maybe you should just start planning to walk some of these less popular routes (they all have many other great Romanesque and/or Visigothic sites as well)! Buen camino, Laurie
Oh, I forgot to give you some info on San Juan de la Pena -- another absolutely impossible to miss church/cloister. I walked there on the Camino Catalan, which passes through San Juan and then joins the Camino Aragones in Santa Cilia de Jaca (about 15 km from Jaca). I know AnnieSantiago has some posts about a bus you can take out and back for a day visit from Jaca,, so that may be your best option. The descent from San Juan is probably the most vicious rocky descent I have ever found on a camino, so I don't think it'd be a great pre-Camino stroll!
Since you say you are going from Jaca to Roncesvalles, if you are making that trip by car, you should definitely plan to stop in the Monastery and church of Leyre. Amazing is all I can say.
