AN AUTUMN TRIP TO GUADALUPE & SIERRA DE VILLUERCAS

We had some gorgeous golden autumn days in late November so decided to take a trip to the Sierra de Villuercas to see the autumn colours. There are many more chestnut and oak trees in that area so the change of colour is really spectacular. Always interesting and impressive to visit Guadalupe again although sometimes the religious tourism can grate on the nerves, low key as it is.  The guided tour around the monastery was bearable if robotic,  but the  monk who took over the guiding into the sancta sanctorum, the chapel  of the virgin de Guadalupe seemed more sanctimonious than ever, a really unctuous monk who was somehow rather sinister and creepy. We were happy to escape without having to kiss a small picture of the virgin which was offered after a condescending lecture about our many troubles which could be helped by a prayer to the little black madonna.  I guess this hostile reaction is typical of an ex-ex- convent girl......I love the ritual, the art, the history, the drama but not too keen on the hierarchy,  just call me frivolous ! However, it was worth going to see the collection of Zubarans and the one touching Goya, one of the prison studies.
We had lunch in the staid dining room of the hostal belonging to the monastery, a bit of a time warp, back to a fascist period, about 1966.  We drove back on Manfred's secret route, right up to the higher ridges of the mountain and went through some magnificent scenery as the sun was setting.