Room with a Pew
Sleeping Our Way Through Spain's Ancient Monasteries
By (author) Richard Starks, Miriam Murcutt
Publication date:
04 November 2012Length of book:
256 pagesPublisher
Lyons PressISBN-13: 9780762781454
This account of the authors' journey will show you what it is like to turn your back on tourist Spain, to leave behind the hotels, pensions and up-market paradors and immerse yourself in the cowled world of Spain’s many and varied ancient monasteries. This is not a guide book, but it does include enough information for you to plan a similar journey of your own. The tone is amusing, sometimes irreverent, but always respectful and entertaining.
Monasteries visited: El Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Vallbona ** El Monasterio de la Virgen de Monlora ** Monasterio de San Salvador de Leyre ** El Real Monasterio de Santo Tomas, Avila ** El Monasterio de la Purisima Concepcion y San Jose , El Toboso ** El Monasterio de la Santa Maria de las Escalonias ** Convento de la Purisima Concepcion (Santa Maria) Marchena
-- Kirkus Reviews
“Although there are hundreds of Spanish monasteries where travelers might stay, Starks and Murcutt select seven on their journey from Barcelona to the southern Mediterranean coast, offering readers a captivating tour of these edifices of spirituality, piety, and community—places embodying values so different from the rest of the world. At El Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás, for example, the writers discover porcelain plates that depict a “Chinese Jesus—with sloping eyes, a drooping Fu Manchu mustache, and long thin black hair that he’s tied into a topknot.” The writers so enjoyed their own experience that they offer advice on choosing a monastery, making a reservation, and getting along with the hosts.”
-- ForeWord Reviews