Here are some photographs from yesterday's trip to San Millan with my roommates. In San Millan, there are two monasteries, one of which (Suso) is the birthplace of Castellano/Spanish and Basque. Of course all of the guides spoke rapid Spanish, so I got the jist of what they said but not everything. I went with my roommates, and afterward we visited my Spanish roommate's, Alicia's, pueblo, Banos de Rio Tobia. Her sister, Nuria, is one of the English teachers with whom I work, and I met her husband and three-year-old son. Then we went to the family's bodega beneath a garage and ate chips and olives and cheese and bread and drank homemade wine. It was a very Riojan day.
Suso itself
The cathedral of Yuso, the "newer" and larger monastery. It's under restoration so all of the important parts are covered in brown paper. I thought it was so interesting to see a cathedral in this state. Unfortunately, it won't be finished for another 4 years.
More of the cathedral. During the fall and spring equinox, the sun shines perfectly through that circular window and then through the circle above the doorway to make a perfect ellipse at the exact center of the cathedral. The benedictine monks were religiously obsessed with precisicion.
Original hymnals (is that what they're even called?). These books are at least two feet tall.
The pages of one of the song books. The writing is big enough so that it could be read from afar.
Yuso
I really liked this painted dome.
Alicia's father's bodega. This is where they store the wine. They have a wine-making bodega in the fields somewhere, I think.
me, Sylvie, Sascha, Alicia, and Justen
Suso, the older of the two monasteries, from Yuso. The monks lived in the caves that form the back wall of the monastery, and the oldest portion was constructed in 550 AD (!). It was then rearranged and added onto by the Benedictine monks who came later.
Sylvie, Alicia, Sascha, and Justen.
Yuso. The cathedral is under restoration.
more Yuso
the view from Suso
Suso itself
The cathedral of Yuso, the "newer" and larger monastery. It's under restoration so all of the important parts are covered in brown paper. I thought it was so interesting to see a cathedral in this state. Unfortunately, it won't be finished for another 4 years.
More of the cathedral. During the fall and spring equinox, the sun shines perfectly through that circular window and then through the circle above the doorway to make a perfect ellipse at the exact center of the cathedral. The benedictine monks were religiously obsessed with precisicion.
Original hymnals (is that what they're even called?). These books are at least two feet tall.
The pages of one of the song books. The writing is big enough so that it could be read from afar.
Yuso
I really liked this painted dome.
Alicia's father's bodega. This is where they store the wine. They have a wine-making bodega in the fields somewhere, I think.
me, Sylvie, Sascha, Alicia, and Justen
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