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Links to individual Bellatrovata pages
Bellatrovata and Paradoxplace are the creations of Adrian Fletcher
All original material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-07 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission. Feedback and comments to Adrian Fletcher
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Bellatrovata
SPRING IN SPAIN 2006 SOUTH OF BURGOS RIO ARLANZA VALLEY MONASTERY OF SANTO DOMINGO DE SILOS WILD FLOWERS
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The old bridge at Lerma |
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If you try (May 2006) getting to the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos from the east, there is a 60 Km detour, which fortuitously led us into some beautiful country in the valley of the Rio Arlanza. As it turned out, we would have been better off doing more exploration there rather than rushing on to beat the lunchtime closing deadline at the monastery (see below)! |
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Puentedura |
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Puentedura |
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Map of the Camino de Compostela / Camino Frances - from the excellent MSM book "The Roads to Santiago de Compostella" |
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Santo Domingo de Silos - disappointment of the trip !
Santo Domingo de Silos is known for its stunning narrative medieval cloisters and the evocative Gregorian chanting of its monks - both beautifully captured in books and CDs. Well, Dom P's advice is to stick with the books and CDs ........
Half (the best half) of the cloister is hidden under scaffolding and will be so until at least the end of 2006, at which time the other half gets cladded and will probably remain so until into 2008. This is not a criticism - stuff has to be maintained - but that is the position for the next two years! No other monastery buildings can be visited.
The only other part of the monastery which is accessible is the unattractive slab of a church, and to call the quality of singing at the Saturday morning mass ordinary would be flattering. Maybe the A choir were touring - there was certainly no evidence of them here.
If you want Gregorian in Spain go to Leyre, though it's hardly a geographic alternative to SD de Silos - maybe just get one of the latter's numerous CDs ! And further afield still, they say that the same master relief artist was probably responsible for the cloister reliefs in Moissac in west France - next year !
The cantankerous Dom got some good photos in the available bits of the lower cloister, it's just that expectations were much higher! |
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Links to individual Bellatrovata pages
Bellatrovata and Paradoxplace are the creations of Adrian Fletcher
All original material © Adrian Fletcher 2000-07 - The contents may not be reproduced without permission. Feedback and comments to Adrian Fletcher |
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