The clean up in the main plaza after the Fiesta de San Cosme Too late for us so we missed the celebrations but it went on till 5 amSundays are for churros and chocolateCrossing the Arlanza River looking back at the Tower of Fernán GonzálezGrape picking is earlier this year due to the weather conditions in summer
Retuerta (pop 58), on the Arlanza River, is 4 km from Covarrubias. A dam was planned which would have flooded the town so the houses weren’t renovated. The dam was never built and most of the houses remain undisturbed, very different to Covarrubias.
Jurisdictional column at the entrance to Retuerta indicating the regime to which it was subject and the territorial limitStone, brick, adobe and wood show how Retuerta houses were builtSt Steven’s Church in Retuerta, first recorded in 1645We were so taken by the traditional architecture we missed a turn waymark and nearly went the wrong (long) way. Luckily a village lady shouted out to usThe hermitage of Santa María dates from the 14th century, remodeled in the 17thThis man has picked his grapes, put them through a hand crusher and is collecting the run off grape juice: marvelous small-scale wine productionA bodega, where villagers store their wine, built into the hill near RetuertaBetween Retuerta and Santo Domingo de Silos the worst summer wildfires in history destroyed hectares of oak and juniper, some trees 2000 years oldTo pick setas (wild mushrooms) you need a permit from the Silos Council We intended to have a simple salad for lunch but when a restaurant in Silos offered a home cooked stew of pork and local setas ….
Santo Domingo de Silos (pop 176) is an attractive Castilian town focused on the Monastery. Destroyed by the Muslims, rebuilt by Santo Domingo around the year 1000 it became a great spiritual, cultural and artistic center during the 11th to 13th centuries. El Cid donated some of his estates to the Monastery.
Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos The Monastery lavandería (laundry) Romanesque cloisters, the only surviving part of the Monastery that hasn’t changed since its inceptionMudéjar (Islamic art style) cloister ceiling from the 14th century11th century carved panel from the cloisters showing Doubting ThomasA street in SilosSad Hill Cemetery where some of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) starring Clint Eastwood was filmed is nearby. Now there’s a Sad Hill beer.
