We were settled into the excellent parador of Sos del Rey Catolico and set off for a day trip from Sos to visit Undués de Lerda, the Castle of Javier and Sanguesa. These are all places which lie in the valley below Sos and make a circular route for a lovely day out.
Undués de Lerda
Undués de Lerda is a small, hilltop town, but unlike Sos it is very sparsely populated today – only c.60 permanent residents. Curiously it had a school. It is interesting because it lies on the Camino Aragon. The Church of St Martin of Tours was closed but he was apparently an extraordinary man in his time and it would have been interesting to visit. We walked round the town but it was very quiet indeed, apart from two ladies chatting on a street corner. This is an easy outing on a day trip from Sos.
Castle of Javier
From Undues we drove cross-country to continue our day trip from Sos.
The Castle of Javier dates from the 10th century. St Frances Xavier (Javier) was born here in 1506, a son of the Lord of Xavier. He was the co-founder of the Jesuit Order together with Ignatius of Loyola who he met when he went to study at the Sorbonne. Today he is also the Patron Saint of Navarre and, the Duchess of Villahermosa gave the castle to the Jesuit Order. (The family house in Madrid is now the Thyssen-Bornimisza Museum.)
Sanguesa
Our day trip from Sos now took us to Sanguesa which stands on the Aragon River. The town was very important and wealthy during the Middle Ages because it is on the Camino Aragon. And this was obvious from the many fine buildings in the Main Street.
The Church of Santa Maria la Real dates from the 13th century and the doorway is astounding. Sadly it was firmly closed. The town has several other significant and interesting churches and convents and you could easily fill a day walking round to see them. But it was less than two weeks since I had contracted Covid and my endurance was still limited. We popped into a bar for necessary sustenance instead!
What a pity I was feeling so floppy. Sanguesa is a town absolutely stuffed with things to see and enjoy and you need to spend a whole day there, at least. Instead we made our way back to Sos after a wonderful day out.
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