Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/405

Estremadura. fine Zurbarans, representing the life of St. Jerome. The ch. is surrounded by an assemblage of buildings, once extensive and sumptuous. The hospederia, or house of reception for strangers, was built out of the confiscated goods of burnt heretics. Visit the two noble cloisters, one of a Gothic pointed, the other of a Moorish style. Notice an elegant Gothic shrine, or temple, and an extremely beautiful double arcade, one above the other. Obs. in an angle the injured tomb of Gonsalo de Illescas, Bishop of Cordova. La Bótica, or medicinal dispensary, yet remains; and the library, from whence the best books have disappeared. It was in order to facilitate the approach of pilgrims to this shrine, that Pedro Tenorio, Archbishop of Toledo, built in 1338 his magnificent bridge over the Tagus, about 28 m. below Talavera de la Reina. He also gave to the convent the remarkable bronze font which used to be near the refectory.

The Serrania of Guadalupe is a continuation of the Montes de Toledo. The highest range, behind the convent, rises 5114 feet. These mountains divide the basins of the Tagus and Guadiana. In the cistus-clad plains game of every kind is most abundant.

[Those who wish to visit Almaden may do so from Guadalupe. They must, however, return to Logrosan. The next day’s ride to Almaden (Pop. 7448) is lonely. The first and only village, Espíritu Santo, is too near the starting place to be of any use for a midday halt: rest, therefore, at a streamlet before ascending the Sierra beyond La Puebla de Alcocer (Pop. 2748). After leaving the pasture-land, the hills become wild and solitary, with a wide moor on their summit, and thence descend to Chillon (Pop. 2467), a dependency, as it were, of Almaden, although separated by a steep hill. For Almaden, see Rte. 70.]