Yesterday was rest and errands day in Jaca.
In the late afternoon, while Dan was at the cell phone store (for the third time) getting the new sim card working, a strong thunderstorm blew through. Ellen was sitting on our hotel room balcony, and managed to catch this lightning strike.
Today's stage took us out of Jaca (very well marked, in contrast to most cities we've passed through), and on trails paralleling the main road west from town. After about 15 km of walking and just before the village of Santa Cilia, we picked up a side trail heading up into to the mountains toward the Monastery at San Juan de la Pena. We've read quite a bit about this site, and planned to detour from the main camino to see it. Because of the distance, we are spending the night near the monastery in the small village of Santa Cruz de la Seros.
But first, we had quite a climb: about 6 km of mostly rough and rocky trail. After a couple of km we passed through the small village of Binacua. Most of the buildings, like this church, have stone roofs.
After about two hours of walking, we arrived at our destination. Santa Cruz is a magical place, and a popular tourist destination and weekend retreat. It dates to before 1000, and was originally the site of a convent strongly linked to the royal family of Aragon.
We took a room at the hotel, which is like a mountain lodge and right across from the main church. This pic is the view from our little balcony. After comida (which included a large carafe of wine), we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and exploring the village.
Another milestone: Today marked 300 km so far on our camino. We have now finished the Camino Catalan, and are embarked on the Camino Aragones.
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