El Monasterio de Piedra--Reveling in the beauty of nature

After figuring out a way to leave Medinaceli behind, we moved on to the second-to-last stop on our list: el Monasterio de Piedra. Technically, we didn’t stay at the monastery itself; we stayed at a tiny town two miles away, Nuévalos. The town was probably just as small as Medinaceli. It didn’t even have a taxi to use. But the hotel room was comfortable and the staff was friendly and helpful, even if no one spoke English (just another chance to practice my Spanish!).

The main site to see at Nuévalos was el Monasterio de Piedra, a monastery and nature park, technically about five kilometers out of town up a hill. Luckily, the hotel offered shuttle rides to and from the monasterio, so we hopped in and headed up.

El Monasterio is a favorite stop for nature lovers from all over Spain

 

El Monasterio de Piedra is a monastery founded in 1194 by Alfonso II of Aragon, along with thirteen Cistercian monks. The monastery was made out of an old Moorish castle after the Moors were pushed out of this part of Spain. The monastery wasn’t finished until 1218. It’s a grand structure, still mostly preserved, though the church has fallen into ruin. It was closed down in 1835 and sold off to a private bidder the next year. This was partly because of the Carlist civil war, as Spain attempted to raise money to pay off its debts. Religion was viewed with hostility and so the monks lost the building they’d lived in for more than 600 years. Now, the monastery is a private hotel.

The monastery is now a private hotel and nature park

When we visited the monastery, we were able to see the cloisters, the assembly room, the church and crypt, the chapel, the wine cellar, the kitchen (the first kitchen in Europe where chocolate was cooked) and the dining room. It was really interesting to walk through the rooms, which were so simple and austere, and beautiful in their austerity, and then see the colorful, baroque icons carved into walls and chapels. The ornate carvings seemed gaudy and out of place in such a peaceful, unassuming little monastery.

El Monasterio de Piedra is known for its countless waterfalls

When we were done with the monastery, we moved on to the park. The park was small, probably only fifty acres, yet it was full of such beauty that it took us quite a while to walk through it all; we kept stopping to admire the sights. Almost every twenty feet, we came across a waterfall, whether a trickling stream or a giant cascade.

Nature walks are better with a sister!

 

We were even able to climb behind one of the falls into a glowing cavern where water dripped from the ceiling like rain and the cave walls were cool to the touch. We walked through forests and over waterfalls; we saw ponds full of trout and birds flitting near our ears. We explored grottos and valleys; we wound our way along rivers and over creaking bridges. It felt like we’d stumbled into a fairy kingdom—the beauty around us was that hard to believe.

It was like our own secret world!

I could have stayed at the park a lot longer than we did, but we wanted to catch the 5 p.m. shuttle back to the hotel. Unfortunately, our shuttle driver forgot about us, so we ended up walking the three miles back to town. It wasn’t so bad, though, since we were in the shadows of the mountains on the way down. Walking along the highway wasn’t very reassuring, but we did get to take in some gorgeous views!

Walking isn't so boring when you walk past things like this

The next day, we decided to walk down to the lake that we could see from our hotel. Getting there was a lot more difficult than we’d realized, just because it was so hot. But when we finally climbed down to the shore, we got to explore the ruins of a church that had been there as long as anyone could remember. You could touch these ruins, climb on them, crawl through windows and doorways—it’s a lot more fun than looking at a fancy monument behind a velvet rope! The lesser-known ruins are almost always the most interesting!

The view from our balcony

We didn’t end up taking a dip in the lake, since the water seemed pretty nasty (and the snakes slithering around under the waves weren’t very comforting either!). Instead, we hiked back up to the hotel and tried the special dish for dinner: rabbit. It was really good!

Perhaps three days was too long to stay at that tiny town, since once you’ve seen the monastery, there isn’t much else to do. But it was nice to just sit back and relax, too. If you’re going to travel a continent for two months, you need some downtime once in a while. It’s not fun if you push yourself all the time. And relaxing in the stark, dusty beauty of Nuévalos is the perfect place to do it. El monasterio was one of my favorite parts of our time in Spain. I’m definitely going back someday… it’s just a matter of when.

Behind the waterfall