The Road Goes Ever On: Spain

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Monastery Of St. Peter of Rhodes, 2

Continuing our visit to the 9th century monastery of St. Peter of Rhodes, near Port Selva, Spain...

In the crypt

Emerging therefrom

Cloister

Capitals, definitely and beautifully Romanesque

Love this stuff

Refectory, now a classroom for cultural events

El Camino...

Porter's quarters

Staircase up the bell tower

View of cloister

Keep; so interesting the monastery would have a keep,
particularly with the fortress just up the hill; yet...9th
century...most of Europe had not yet emerged from the
predations of the Vikings, pirates, Moors, brigands of
other descriptions...Dark Ages

In the Keep

Looking up toward the fortress ruins

Port de Selva

Handy map of the area

Bell tower

Looking downhill toward the parking lot and our camper

Wild porcine pups on the grounds

Spare parts

Two towers

Monastery Of St. Peter of Rhodes, 1

Not far up the coast, high up in the mountains, is the 9th century Benedictine monastery of St. Peter of Rhodes. Most of the ruins are 10th century, but that's pretty old for Medieval Europe, and the complex includes a fortress as well as the village that supported both monastery and fortress. Here, as the literature explained, you have the three basic estates of the emerging Medieval world: those who fought (the bellatores), those who prayed (the oratores), and those who worked (the laboratores). Not much room for de-classed intellectuals.

The fortress, pretty ruined, Verdera

The monastery, pretty much intact, with modifications to
prevent further ruin; also a restaurant, gift shoppe, etc.

On the Camino, of course

Remains of the village,Santa Creu, on the right; the distances, and the lateness in
the day, required we focus on the monastery

Terrain; once heavily planted in vines, until phylloxera showed up

All roads lead to Santiago de Compostela, as we know, and some pass through
St. Peter of Rhodes

Official doggie parking

The two towers of the monastery...the bell tower and the keep

Helpful illustration; and in English too

Corballed ceiling in the wine cellar

Lamb of God

Pretty basic Romanesque, or even pre-Romanesque, if you like; love the thousand
year old barrel vaulting

View from narthex

Original capitals on the port side; the starboard capitals were a bit more
weathered but still impressive

Vicki about to perambulate

In the small ambulatory

Only painting we saw, in the chancel

Monastic view

Aerial/angelic view of fortress

Leaving the ambulatory

Chancel

On The Road Again, To Cadaques

The train got us to Figueres in good order, Le Duc was waiting for us, and after some repairs and refurbishings, and a long and long-anticipated visit at the Carrefour, we were on the road the next day, October 5th. But only as far as the Albero campground near Capmany, where we spent a couple days and nights. It takes a bit of time to move back in, clean, reinstall items like the solar panel Trimetric, plan, and make sure everything is working, etc. For once, no problems! Interestingly, there are a couple of minor megalithic complexes (dolmen, menhirs) in the vicinity. Unfortunately, all seemed far off the road and in difficult terrain, so we decided to leave them for next time. Why were our neolithic ancestors so inconsiderate?! Anyhow, it was time to begin moving on, toward Rome. Our first stop was the nearby coastal village of Cadaques. We had been near it in previous years, visiting Dali's Port Lligat home in the next cove.