Monastery of Sant Pere DE Rodes

When we were headed out to dinner last night, we met an Irish couple staying in the room next to ours and became fast friends. We stood talking for awhile outside our rooms and then said we would meet at breakfast to exchange email addresses. We had finished eating when they came down this morning but we invited them to sit with us anyway. She had already written down all of her contact information for me. We stayed and talked to them for an hour while they ate and it was the most interesting conversation including everything from politics to Irish butter. He is 88 years old and from what I could tell from her email address, she is 69. He was living in Wales at the time of World War II and was called up to serve for Great Britain and stationed in Berlin Germany. They are amazing people who´ve invited us to visit them anytime at their home in a small village outside of Dublin or at their summer home in the South of France. Why not???

Once again, there was no lack of food for breakfast. My downfall is the bread. There is nothing like freshly baked bread in Europe. The croissants just melt in your mouth.

This is the breakfast room.

map of our walk today

Leaving El Port De La Selva behind, we travel up to the Sant Pere de Rodes cloister.

Again, the views of the Mediterrean are just breath-taking.

Heading up the mountain to the monastery.

The mountain range in the background is the dividing line between France and Spain.

The monastery ahead of us.

The monastery dates to the first century after Christ. It is recognized as one of the most important monasteries in Spain. The walk up to the monastery begins at sea level and goes straight up the mountain to 2,247'. Wait a minute. Didn't we just do this very thing yesterday? Or, we can take a taxi from our hotel to the monastery and begin the walk there going over the mountain to Palau Saverdera, our home for the night. We took a taxi!!! 

Let me apologize now for all the pictures. You can just skim through them as you wish. It was just an amazing place.

The upper cloister. In the 18th century, each monk had his own apartment in this area.

Look who's meowing in the upper window. Cat didn't want to be left behind.

Looking out the window up to the ruins of Castell de Sant Salvador. You can barely see the ruins at the top of the mountain. It was an extra little side trip going straight up the mountain for about 40 minutes with a bit of a scramble the last few meters. Kim said he´d be happy to wait for me at the monastery. If it hadn´'t been for the bit of a scramble at the very top, I would have gone for it. I don't do well with unstable footing in high places.

This is the bell tower.

This is the defensive tower with no entrance at ground level. It can only be entered through the first level.

Looking up into the bell tower.

Stone steps leading down into the larder.

You can see where we spent last night to the left of me, down on the coast. That´s why we took a taxi!

This is the ceiling in the cellars.

Walls of the cellars.

Relief of the resurrected Christ.

Relief of the Lamb of God.

Tombs excavated from the rock 10th century.

The Nave is constructed in the Roman style. The barrel vault is 16 meters high.

The decoration on the capitals is Corinthian in style. You can see the intricate lacey design.

What remains of a mural painting.

Showing the thickness of the walls.

Symbolism - a palm tree.

Kim ducking his head. 😂

This is one of the only paintings remaining on the walls. It is a lion.

You can see the trail we´'ll be taking to the left of the paved road.

Leaving the monastery behind.

From the monastery, we walked up to the church of Santa Helena.

After leaving the church, we wound our way around the mountain for about 40 minutes before beginning an extremely steep and rocky descent into the small village of Palau Saverdera. The agriculture here is olive groves and vineyards.

Finally a sign showing we are on the right trail. Kim just knew I was leading him astray.

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks.

A pleasant respite from the sun beating down.

but more rocks

I think we´'re getting closer to the village.

We started the rocky descent at the little white Chapel of Sant Onofre on the top.

Getting further away from the church must mean we're  getting closer to the village???

Seriously? You´ve got to be kidding!

If you look really hard, you can see the little white chapel on the hill in the fork of the tree.

We´ve reached the village and the church tower.

Our accommodation is on the left with the little sign.

Our room.

The hosts of our tour company left a bottle of champagne at the inn for my birthday.

hahaha!

View out our window.

Other side of the window. And look up on the mountain. There´s that little white chapel!

The library

The stone wall in our room with Kim´s sweaty socks hanging up to dry. 😁

Dining al fresco again.

Waiting on dinner.

Fresh, hot bread with garlic aioli and olives.

The restaurant was actually part of the monastery. The monks quarters were here.

I ordered grilled gamba and scallops with pesto spaghetini. Wow was it good!

Kim had porc (yep that's the way it was spelled) cheek with risotto and vegetables. He said it tasted like barbacoa, was very tender.

We shared a creme brulee for dessert.

The village church tower on our walk back to the inn.

It was an easy day today (don't tell Kim I said that!) His feet were hurting all day. 7 1/4 miles, 17,839 steps.

Tomorrow we hire a car (rent one) to continue our journey through spain. No more carb loading for me.