OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

BY THE MONKS FOOTSTEPS

The Silence Valley .Painting by A. Arias, 2002.

Inside El Bierzo, in the province of León, in only a few kilometres you can travel back in time to the Middle Ages following the route of the monasteries of La Tebaida.

The route

UNDER TWO THOUSAND YEARS OLD SHADOW

Going away from Ponferrada by the Boeza Bridge and taking the road on your left, through Salas de los Barrios you get to the little village of San Cristobal de Valdueza, near the El Morredero skiing resort.

When you arrive the village, the first thing that calls your attention is an alive monument, a huge yew tree beside a little ruined church. This tree is considered one of the most ancient ones in the world and is thought to be

more than two thousand years old, indeed it is said that it existed before the building of the Cathedral of León. It is placed in the burial ground of the village, a sacred and magic place associated with inmortality, something

that the tree must have taken into account.

The millenary jew tree of Saint Cristobal de Valdueza

A bit forward is the village where you can visit the church dedicated to San Cristobal and admire its slate-roof houses with wooden balconies, typical of the El Bierzo architecture, the beautiful landscapes or you can start one of the walking routes across the Aquilanos Mountains.

San Cristobal de Valdueza

THE MARBLE JEWEL AND THE SAINT’S CAVE

Setting off from San Cristobal de Valdueza you feel it is time to walk calmly across an unasphalted roadway for some kilometres until you descend to Peñalba de Santiago.

The origins of this village are in the VIII century when the Muslims conquered the South and the Centre of Spain, arriving the old Kingdom of Castilla and forcing the Chistians to take shelter in the narrow mountains of the North. In its valleys some monks set their monasteries and lived there isolated from the world dedicating their lives to pray and to work the land. Around one of these monasteries, a bit up the riverside of the Oza River, Peñalba was founded.

The only thing of that era you can see nowadays is the Visigothic church dedicated to Santiago, the saint

patron of Spain, with its isolated tower and indoors the severe architecture of the building and a kind of primitive graffiti drawn on its walls, perhaps made by the monks in

their bored and long hours of prayer.

The Visigothic Church of Santiago de Peñalba

In the village, now completely restored, your steeps sound in the white marbled pavement of the streets and reflect in the pure stoned and slated local architecture.

A view of Peñalba

Leaving the village and taking a narrow and sloped up path across the valley, after crossing the Silence River you reach the Saint Genadio’s Cave, a cave into the marble rock where it is thought this saint, former wishop of Astorga and founder of Peñalba’s Monastery, retired to pray alone for hours or even days.

Ascendig to the cave

Saint Genadio’s Cave

From this place you feel astonished by the magnitude of the high mountains that surround the valley and the little village of Peñalba.

THE RUPIANENSI MONASTERY

Descending from Saint Genadio’s Cave and following an indicated route for 2.5 kilometers that surrounds the mountains of the Silence Valley you arrive Montes de Valdueza, another village founded next to a monastery. This one, dedicated to Saint Peter, is considered one of the most ancient of Spain and was founded as a chapel by Saint Fructuoso in the very early Middle Ages, just after the end of the Roman Empire, over a place inhabited by the roman people of this lands. Later, over it Saint Valerio and Saint Genadio built a monastery whose existence lasted until the XVIII century when it was expropriated by the government and bought by some families of the area, what caused its ruin.

Saint Peter’s Church and the ruins of the monastery

Today the only place you can visit is the Church partially restored a few years ago and some ruins of the monastery’s walls between centenaries chestnut trees that make you feel as San Valerio described this place in the Middle Ages: A placed resembled to the Garden of Eden, which is apt for retreat, for solitude and for the recreations of the senses.

Under the balconies in Montes de Valdueza

An old Chestnut tree

Once your soul has been comforted with these unspoilt places, the way back to Ponferrada goes by other little villages, San Clemente de Valdueza, Valdefrancos and San Esteban de Valdueza which now you’ll see from a different point o view.

Enjoy the route!

Aurora Arias Alonso