Yuso monastery

[davejsy]

So, going through my photos for the excellent "Long and winding road" post I suddenly remembered I'd detoured to Yuso Monastery from Najera - an apparently short beautiful well-marked slight detour on the way to Santa D according to some blog post I'd read in all my starry-eyed pilgrim innocence. Anyway, I got lost on the way there (funnily enough the internet signal was not great in the middle of nowhere), although it was very beautiful mostly through vineyards until I had to eventually go on the road due to having no idea where the hell I was going. Then ended up walking back along the road until I eventually picked the Camino up again about 5km from Santa Domingo de la Calzada as there was no obvious off-road route from the monastery - I can't remember how far it was but it was a 40km+ day.

So in case there is a next time, is the route actually marked? And is there a route other than the road from there to Santa D?

And, the blog said you could stay in an Albergue there, but all I could see was a swanky posh unpilgrim like hotel?

On the plus side I arrived there just in time to seamlessly mingle in with a big Italian tour group who were on a paid guided tour of the place which isn't normally open I'm guessing as they had to unlock the doors! And, it was one of the most beautiful places I had the privilege to see on the Camino - well worth the detour And I got my passport stamped and got a free monastery liveried biro

 

[davejsy]

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