Monasterio de Piedra: Majestic Waterfalls by Nuevalos and the Monastry of the Rocks

The big surprise that awaits you as you travel from Madrid to Zaragoza is the grand concentration of amazing waterfalls near Nuevalos within Aragon region in a place where a 12th century monastry known as Monasterio de Piedra or Monastry of the Rocks was built. The Monastry was founded by the Cisterian monks in 1194 in a location that is most peaceful and conducive for the contemplative lonesome life even by today´s standards.

The Piedra river which flows nearly, cascades at various points into extremely wide stadium sized cauldron of limestone canyons in splendid splashes of incandescent waterfalls. Some cascade in huge volumes down steep 100 feet drops while others cascade the surface of terraced rock outcrops along the mountain-sized Canyons. The contrast between the rugged canyons and the extremely lushy greenery of various plants and foliages gives it a paradisic and serene quality.

Over the years, caves and tunnels have been borne through some of the rocks and the managers of the park have gingerly created walkways for visitors to get up close within breathing distance of waterfalls that are over 70 feet above the ground whitewater levels. It gets more eery as you wander around the cavernous structure while hearing the rivulets and streams of water travel down the surface of the rocks that embowels you.

As you drive into the surface lot that houses the ancient monastry buildings that has now been converted to hotel rooms for staying guests, restraurants, gift shops and cafes, you get guided down a path by foot, that starts descending down a quarter mile to the flat bottoms of the hills, which spreads out into a behive of aquatic culture. It contains several whitewater rivers surging by while others are steady clear springs flowing gentlying down what seems like a circuitious route, while further down, some of the water are cordonned into fish farms and other aquatic animal nusery. From the base, any direction you look up, would shines mirrors of waterfalls streaming down the mountains and gently caressing your face with vapors of the freshly sented waters of this peaceful world away from all worlds.

The extremely natural beauty of the environment was definitely the attraction that brought the monks to the site. The monastry construction was said to have been done in three architectural stages which are clearly observable. There was the Gothic stage in the 13th century, the Renaissance Gothic stage in the 16th Centruy and the Classical-Baroque stage in the 18th Centruy.

While the reisdence of the monks now serves as a hotel, for visitors to the park complex, the cloister of the monastry especially the chapter house seemed like the worker-beehive of the monastic live. It is a complex built in the 12th century that has areas with centuries old equipment for wine making, bakery, which was the first location chocolate was made in Spain and the old world, sheds for horse carriages, prayer chapels, and even burial chambers in a basement structure in the main church-hall. It was remarkable that some bottles of wine made when the monastry was still in active use are preserved and displayed for visitors like me to view centuries later. Even the food they had on their menu list where also on display.

Monasterio de Piedra was indeed a complete city all by itself. It was run superbably even with hours it took to nearby towns by horse drawn carriages posted by the stable area. It did not seem that they lacked anything and indeed led a truly monastic and contented life totally surrounded by nature and peace. It was a great diversion on the way to Zaragoza the capital city of Aragon Region and today´s 5th largest city in Spain.