Monasterio de Piedra

Cistercians founded the monastery in 1194 beside the Piedra river, which drops through a series of falls and travertine formations in a gorge below it. After the 1835 confiscations the property was bought privately, and from 1860 Juan Federico Muntadas laid out the gorge as a park, cutting paths, tunnels and viewpoints through the rock to reach the falls, in the picturesque taste of the period. The largest, the Cola de Caballo, drops about fifty metres into a cave that visitors enter behind the water via a tunnel dug for the purpose. The monastery buildings hold a hotel and a museum, including one on chocolate, since the monks are credited with an early role in bringing cacao from the Americas to Europe.

What you actually see

• The Cola de Caballo - a fifty-metre fall entered from behind through a tunnel.
• The nineteenth-century paths - cut routes, tunnels and viewpoints through the gorge.
• The travertine formations - limestone shaped by the falling water.
• The monastery - Cistercian buildings with a hotel and chocolate museum.

When to go

April to June for the strongest flow and green, September to November for autumn colour. Summer is busy and the flow lower. The route is one-way and takes about three hours.

Honest expectations

The park is a designed nineteenth-century attraction rather than a natural site, with railings and lighting throughout. Tickets are relatively expensive and the route is fixed and one-way, with many steps. It gets crowded at weekends and holidays.

Nearby

Calatayud lies north; the Moncayo massif and the Castilian border are west.