[Gocamino] Somport; San Juan de la Peña

[blaroli@aol.com]

 Hello you all,
There is a refurbished albergue at Somport. And a good thing that is because the number of pilgrims starting out at Somport (Southern Door) has grown a lot. Thw new facility is a refurbished portion from the failed railroad connection undertaken by Spain and France before an old beef between them flared out and the effort was scuttled.   
Somehow the Pyrenees seem more so at Somport than at SJPP-Roncesvalles. Perhaps one gets sooooo tired going up from SJPP that by the time one reaches the top one is just too tired to take in the magnificence of the Pyreneean beauties.  It has been said that more pilgrim crossed through Somport in medieval times than through SJPP. The romance of Roland, however, made the SJPP route better known. The descent from the heights of Somport is shorter and steeper, and somehow it feels more like the mighty beginning of a momentous pilgrimage.
Most pilgrims go straight down through Jaca onto the Aragonese portion of the French Camino. Few, regretfully, take the small detour to the San Juan de la Peña soul-dazzling Monastery in a cave, about which much has been said here.
There are actually two monasteries: the ¨new¨ one (only a few centuries old), atop the mountain, and the 
fantastic öld¨one in the cave. The access to the monasteries seems to be better organized and the grounds around them, particularly the öld¨one, meticolousy well-cared for. While many people can drive up to the ¨new¨monastery for campiong, or visiting, they may do so within specified times and cannot stay overnight. The number of visitors who drive up, and buses, is firmly regulated, as are the places to park. Small minibuses bring down visitors to the öld¨monastery, and then back up.  There is an örientation¨office that informs about flora. fauna, etc., by the ¨new¨monastery, and a small bar.
The bad news: they are buiding a hotel on the grounds of the ¨new¨monastery atop the mountain; the good news: it will be a retreat-type facility.  I myself cannot think of anything better than spend a week or so atop that gorgeous forested mountain and walking down to the glorious old monastery at least once a day. 
The site is magnificent. The air feels as though one is breathing cool blue oxygen, and the fairy-tale woods with the large birds and the occasional deer or fox scurrying through the trees, makes the soul feel as though it is going to burst with happiness while the body becomes almost transcendent amidst such beauty and healthy air.  
No wonder monks and pilgrims created such wondrous exaltations of the spirit there such as the perduring heart-and-mind sanctuary of the perception of the Holy Grail.
Pilgrims who follow the Aragon route will come across many other wonders, including the Mar del Pirineo (Sea of the Pyrenees), which is the bluest of blue, cleanest of clean lakes anywhere. It is, of course, up there, and I´m glad to tell you that there is a pilgrims´albergue in the fabled village of SOS Rey Catolico (that´s the name of the place), which is right  by the lake.
About twenty kms. or so from Jaca there is a ¨Puente La Reina¨which, like its Navarrese counterpart, was built by a queen to facilitate the endeavors of the ancient pilgrims. 
There is a small hermit nearby with an ancient inscription that says that the Camino is a soul that belongs to everybody.
There are a great number of ongoing celebrations in the area commemorating the 500th year of the birth of St. Francis Xavier who was born in a village on the Aragonese Route. I do not know anything about him, but I think he was a celebrated Jesuit.
I am going to attempt to send to Dave and Grant an engraving of ancient pilgrims crossing Somport. They will know how to post it if you want to see it.
Big hug!
Rosina
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