Afternoon excursion from Cervera de Pisu

Last year on the Viejo, I had taken a detour to two medieval “rock churches”, ermitas rupestres. They had just mesmerized me – that simplicity, the work, the obvious devotion.

Looking at the area around this year‘s Camino, I saw that there is a very big one of these ermitas not too far from where I ended up today, in Cervera de Pisuerga. It’s the church of Saint Justo and Saint Pastor.

I found a very nice Taxi driver to take me there. The church has some really impressive and beautiful columns carved out of the rock, which provides a lot of evidence of the geological sequences in the area. But all in all, I would say that this church didn’t hit me like the others. There was a lot of 16th and 17th century statuary, retablos, altar decoration, etc., which I thought detracted from the simplicity of the structure itself. But it is still an active church, not just a tourist attraction.

Since we were very close to a romanesque church built as part of a monastery in 1200, Santa Maria de Mave, I thought it was worth a quick trip over. It is a very beautiful church, Benedictine, unornamented, with beautiful arches. The monastery is mostly in ruins, with parts having been bought by a hotel chain, but the church still stands squeezed in there.

I was really glad to have seen both of these places, and I’m now ready to have a quick bite to eat and head to bed. Still more rain in the forecast, and even some snow! I definitely should have brought some heavier clothing. I will be in a big town in a couple of days if it’s still cold. I have been lucky to have dodged most of the rain while walking, but it’s always prominently in the forecast. We’ll see whether it hits me tomorrow.Read more