K
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I would love to stay in a monastery while on my walk next year. Does anyone know where I can find information regarding which towns/villages have a monastery in which I can stay? Also those that allow pilgrims, are they open (do monasteries close?) year round?
Thanks,
Karen
PS We are celebrating a minor holiday here in Jerusalem, I wasn't focused up there since guests just walked in. Monastaries are a great idea, they offer history, religion, a "real" pilgrim experience behind great walls of tradition they share a common denominator. I have stayed at the Old Roncesvalles, San Juan de Ortega, Samos, and Santo Domingo, they all were freezing cold at night! Pilgrims woke three or four times in a foetal postiton despite sleeping bags and long underwear, pilgrims such as I who suffer from TLB (tiny little bladder) were up and stumbling in the dark three or four times searching for the rest rooms, very little rest was had.
Samos, you are awakened with music very pleasant and do take the tour of the church, about 1 1/2 hours only in Spanish but it goes through the remaining old parts, up through the reconstructed new part (a huge fire in the 50's of the last century) and ends rather like Hollyeood in their relic room. If you are interested, I can also tell you about the disquised mosque located in Samos as well.
The best vespers is at monastery in Santo Domingo de Silos, but it takes a one-day (or two-day, if you want to see the cloisters as well) side trip from Burgos. You can buy their CD and avoid the detour.
Vespers with the Cistercian nuns in Santo Domingo is interesting because they sing from the side nave of the chapel, and you cannot hear or see them. Cloistered is as cloistered does!
I walked with a French woman who had a list from her church of all the religious gites on the Chemin du Puy, almost none of which were public knowledge. That is not much use on the Camino Frances, but it makes me believe that there are a lot more places than you find in the guidebooks.
Given the nature of a monastery it's unlikely you'll be able to stay IN one. Many run albergues for pilgrims. I looked up these up in my guidebook so you can try that. I remember staying with the Cistercian Sisters at the Monastery at Santa Domingo de Calzada and the Benedictine Monks in Rabanal.
You can hear them because the singing comes around the corner, but you cannot see them. You can hear them rustling in, then the vespers begin. Then the singing ends. You hear them shuffle out. All without introduction or farewell. I commented to a very urbane pilgrim, "It makes you wish you had paid more attention in Latin class." He responded, "It wouldn't help. They were singing in Spanish." Such is my monolinguality.Very curious that one cannot hear or see the Cistercian nuns.
That's ok. Not being able to stay in one and to be cloistered are related so when you look up cloistered you'll gain a better understanding. In a nutshell, monasteries are for monks and nuns who live (not together!) a life dedicated to prayer; who, for the most part, are shut off from the world to undertake this and to do works to support themselves in this life. They are "enclosed" within the monastery, inside which there is a cloister and so they are "cloistered"). Some are semi-cloistered and interact personally with the outside world as part of their work - for example the Benedictine monks at Rabanal who tend to pilgrims.
Most, especially Benedictines, have guest quarters which are outside the cloistered area and it is in these that you would typically stay. The Cistercian monastery in Santa Domingo that I mentioned I had stayed at has an albergue attached but not actually inside. The monastery in Rabanal has a guest house over the road.
Acogida Christiana en el Camino is a network of places along the caminos that offer a particularly Christian approach to pilgrim hospitality. The group includes most of the monastic houses mentioned above, as well as some non-albergue pilgrim outreach services and some un-publicized private homes. The website is www.acogidacristianaenelcamino.es and the listing is on the right side of the home page.
At the convent on the "secret" list in Figeac, which had a separate downstairs room and shower for men, I asked the nun who greeted us for a restaurant recommendation. She replied that she did not have one; she had never eaten outside the convent! She had been there for nearly twenty years. I was a little chagrined.I did look up cloistered and have a better understanding now.
Avoid the monastery at San Juan de Ortega. The monks aren't very involved with it anymore, the famous garlic soup is ancient history, the people that do run it are rude, and the entire place incredibly damp and cold. I didn't meet anyone last year who said they were happy they stayed. In fact, some people who were the last to complain about ANYthing did plenty of complaining about SJdOI would love to stay in a monastery while on my walk next year. Does anyone know where I can find information regarding which towns/villages have a monastery in which I can stay? Also those that allow pilgrims, are they open (do monasteries close?) year round?
Thanks,
Karen
Avoid the monastery at San Juan de Ortega. The monks aren't very involved with it anymore, the famous garlic soup is ancient history, the people that do run it are rude, and the entire place incredibly damp and cold. I didn't meet anyone last year who said they were happy they stayed. In fact, some people who were the last to complain about ANYthing did plenty of complaining about SJdO
Also with a TLB (isn't aging grand) what time of year were the nights so frigid?PS We are celebrating a minor holiday here in Jerusalem, I wasn't focused up there since guests just walked in. Monastaries are a great idea, they offer history, religion, a "real" pilgrim experience behind great walls of tradition they share a common denominator. I have stayed at the Old Roncesvalles, San Juan de Ortega, Samos, and Santo Domingo, they all were freezing cold at night! Pilgrims woke three or four times in a foetal postiton despite sleeping bags and long underwear, pilgrims such as I who suffer from TLB (tiny little bladder) were up and stumbling in the dark three or four times searching for the rest rooms, very little rest was had.
Samos, you are awakened with music very pleasant and do take the tour of the church, about 1 1/2 hours only in Spanish but it goes through the remaining old parts, up through the reconstructed new part (a huge fire in the 50's of the last century) and ends rather like Hollyeood in their relic room. If you are interested, I can also tell you about the disquised mosque located in Samos as well.
Hi Karen! I stayed there in 2013 - the beds had REAL matching bedspreads and every woman entering the room exhaled a joyous " wow"! A special place, as well as Carrion d.l.c! Hope you had a wonderful camino!Hi Karen
Santa Maria church in Rabanal has evening Vespers, Gregorian chants sung by monks which can be very moving if they are there-they are sometimes singing elsewhere. If you are up for a two or three day side trip by bus do visit Santo Doming de Silos Abbey 60 kilometers south of Burgos the singing there is raptuous and the abbey is especially beautiful. The Carrion de los Condes albergue Espiritu Santo is a monastary but pilgrims occupy a separate wing, the biggest attraction? Beds, not bunks but real beds. The nuns from the albergue at Santa Maria church in C.d.l.C. offer an evening pilgrims blessing and shared meal which can be moving. Santa Clare also in Carrion is often overcrowded, hot, and not especially hygenic-seems attractive from outside but don't be tempted to stay-do see their collection of nativity scenes brought from around the world.
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