San Juan de la Pena

The old monastery of San Juan de la Pena is built into the space beneath an enormous overhanging rock, which forms its roof: a lower church of the tenth century, an upper church consecrated in 1094, a royal pantheon holding early kings of Aragon and Navarre, and a Romanesque cloister whose carved capitals show biblical scenes and which is open on one side to the rock above and the valley below, so it is half in shadow and half in light. It was the first Aragonese house to adopt the Roman rite and functioned as the kingdom's spiritual centre. A chalice kept here until 1399 is one of several claimed as the Holy Grail, now in Valencia. A fire in 1675 led to a new baroque monastery being built higher up the hill.

What you actually see

• The rock overhang - a monastery roofed by the cliff above it.
• The royal pantheon - tombs of early Aragonese and Navarrese kings.
• The open cloister - carved capitals under the rock with the valley beyond.
• The new monastery - a baroque replacement higher up, with exhibitions.

When to go

May to October; the mountain road can be difficult in winter and hours are reduced. In summer cars are stopped at the new monastery and a shuttle runs down to the old one. Booking is advisable in August.

Honest expectations

Summer access to the old monastery is by shuttle only, with cars left above. The site is small and the visit takes about ninety minutes. The road up is narrow and winding.

Nearby

Jaca and its citadel lie northeast; the Pyrenees and the Aragues valleys are north.