10th Stage
La Roda – San Clemente (34,5 km)
You leave La Roda through the street of the Mártires. At the end of this street you can see two enormous chimneys. Almost at the end, turn left onto Dulcinea Street, and then the first right, behind the factories, and continue along the road to Minaya that follows the electric line.
Always walking towards the West, to the right of the road, there is a truncated cone stone building, with a dome and a door that faces the South, well protected from winds, it is a hut, a shelter for shepherds.
In spite of the roads that cross, the pilgrim will always go west, having in the distance, in front and a little to the left, a silo. After passing a crossroads with a house on the left, a row of almond trees mark the path, the last of which tells us to choose the path on the left.
When you reach a local road, cross it, leaving a farmhouse on the left. After the last crossroads, you enter a wide path, with the tower of the Minaya church in the background.
MINAYA
The route is marked with tiles. You enter Minaya through the Grande street, next to the Parador, an old building that served as an inn and a house of posts. This town honours its Arabic toponymy of “open and visible way”, and is indeed a place of passage for all those who from the Mediterranean want to approach Toledo and Madrid. That is why it is open to strangers and pilgrims.
This village, which has transcended to the present day through the figure of Álvar Fáñez, nephew and companion of Cid Campeador, has a parish church dedicated to Santiago El Mayor, a sixteenth-century Gothic with a very naïve modern altarpiece: Father Josico will teach it to you with great pleasure. Behind it is the House-Palace of the Lords of Minaya.
- Town Hall: Olmo,4. Tel: 967 450 006
- Municipal Reception in the Polideportivo: Calle Calvario, 52. Tel.: 615 680 385. Jesús Villodre. 2 squares.
- Hostal Antolín: Ctra. N-301, Km 195.5. Tel: 967 450 042
*(Attention variant Camino del Sureste).
To leave Minaya, the Levante Way continues along Calle Real. Having as point of reference the restaurant Antolín, in the outskirts of the town and to the right of the Real street; one leaves by the way located just in front of the facade of that restaurant, leaving to the right the highway to Houses of Fernando Alonso, and continuing always ahead for this way. Without leaving it, one arrives at Casas de los Pinos
CASAS DE LOS PINOS
The route through this small town is marked with scallop pottery. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of La Candelaria, of simple manufacture and topped by a belfry.
- Town Hall: Parque, 2. Tel: 969 383 203.
- Rural houses: Residencial Candelaria and Rincón Rural extramuros
You leave Casas de los Pinos along the road to San Clemente, leaving on the right the one that goes to Casas de Fernando Alonso. After about 300 metres, take the road on the right that leads directly to San Clemente. As soon as you enter this path, a beautiful pine forest invites you to enjoy it, especially those who have not rested in Casas de los Pinos.
The path ends at the road that joins Casas de los Pinos and San Clemente, approximately 1 kilometre from the town.
SAN CLEMENTE
The route is marked with scallop ceramics. You enter San Clemente through María Josefa Melgarejo or Los Dulces street, as the locals know it. To the left is a garden with millstones and the Remedios school. It always continues straight to the city centre.
San Clemente is a typically medieval city, with a church dedicated to St. James the Apostle (15th century), which preserves inside a Gothic alabaster cross transferred from the Hermitage of San Roque and attributed to the chisel or school of Gil de Siloé. The Town Hall is a Plateresque building (16th century), with a double gallery of arches, with a huge imperial coat of arms of Carlos I and a tower with a pyramidal top. The Torre Vieja in Calle del Marqués was the medieval fortress around which the initial nucleus of the town developed from the 12th century onwards. El Pósito, Casa Carnicerías (today the Palace of Justice) and the convents of El Carmen and San Francisco make up the central nucleus of the city. The Roman Arch is in one of the corners of the Plaza Mayor, between the church and the Chancellery building.
It had three hospitals for pilgrims: San Sebastián, Nuestra Señora and Santiago.
- Town Hall: Plaza Mayor, 10. Tel: 969 300 003
- Municipal Pilgrims’ Hostel “Santiago Apóstol”: C/ Carmen Martínez Arribas, 1. Keys in the Tourist Office from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 to 13 and from 17 to 19,30 and in the Town Hall on Mondays from 8 to 15. 4 places.
- TOURISM Office: Plaza Mayor S/n Tel: 969 301 200.
- Hostal Milán II: Arrabal 24. Tel: 969 301 510, prices for pilgrims. www.hostalmilan.es
- Hostal Plaza Mayor: Plaza Mayor, 8. Tel: 969 300 245 (special price for pilgrims) www.hostallaplaza.es
- Hostal Milán I: Boteros, 22. www.hostalrestaurantemilan.com. Tel: 690 008 699.
- Casa de Los Acacio: It is recommended to call before. Special price for pilgrims: 45€ room for double or single use (40% discount), breakfast and VAT included. C/. Cruz Cerrada, 10. Tel.: 969 300 360. www.casadelosacacio.es
- Rural House “Alcañiz”: C/ Las Eras, 30. Tel.: 670 816 580 www.casaruralalcaniz.com
In San Clemente the Virgin of Rus is of great popular devotion. On Easter Sunday the auction takes place to win the right to transport the Virgin the following Sunday from her hermitage to the church, where she will remain for 40 days. A large pilgrimage will take her along the 9 km that will take her back to the hermitage.
