San Millán de la Cogolla in La Rioja, Spain, was where Mario and I chose to use our gift pack from La Vida Es Bella back in October. San Millán is home to the monasteries of Suso and Yuso, built in the 6th and 11th centuries, respectively. It was a trip filled with the scents of autumn, crisp morning and evening air, walking, and—how could it not be so?—wine.
Yuso (“el de arriba”) Monastery
A commemorative tablet with text written in archaic Spanish
Codices
Now on to Suso (“el de arriba”) …
Exploring the village of San Millán …
If you’ve never been to this corner of Spain, it’s one I highly recommend, especially if you’re caught up in the craziness that is living in one of Spain’s bigger cities.
Looks nice! I really need to get out there and explore Spain’s smaller towns. I’m promising myself I’ll at least make it to a few this year!
Oh wow! This is really cool. I remember reading Liz Carlson’s blog post about this when she visited during her year in La Rioja and was amazed that the monasteries conserve the oldest extant Spanish-language literature. That picture you have of the archaic Spanish was fascinating; it seemed almost more Galician than Castilian!