Go live for a week in a monastery
“Do you come looking for silence and prayer? ” is one of the first sentences on the other end of the phone when you make a reservation on the Guesthouse of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit of Mount , located at 2.5 km from the town of Gilet, in Valencia . Always, of course, under a warm and welcoming tone.
Here silence is key to introspection , although the sentence already depends on your own criteria: you may need a retreat to disconnect from the world , give a boost to your studies or, simply, enjoy a quiet accommodation when it comes to getting lost among the pines or visiting the nearby cities of Sagunto (9.7 km) and Valencia (33.5 km).
Inhabited by Franciscan monks, the Holy Spirit Monastery was built in the XV century and has survived throughout a history marked by reforms, various functions ( in the War of Spanish Independence it was a hospital ) and even pirate attacks. Today, the beliefs of its guests remain in the background when respect prevails and a retreat understands as many reasons as needs.
Especially, after a year marked by so many reasons to step back and take perspective.
THEY CALL IT 'THE BRAKE'
"At first, 'El Frenazo' costs", he tells you Amparo, the nice person in charge of interacting with the guests when they arrive at the reception of the monastery . "Rhythms change and we're not always used to being silent for so long," she continues. “But there are a lot of people who need it. People come here in search of space and certain schedules marked s, such as opponents. We have also set up a room with parquet flooring, since sometimes we receive different oriental groups who come to practice yoga and meditation. Everyone is welcome as long as there is respect for the community”.
The Holy Spirit Lodge It has different double and single rooms at very cheap prices combined with full board. Access to the beautiful cloister of the monastery is also included, as well as a chapel, meeting rooms, an outdoor terrace and even a tapería that opens on weekends for hikers who arrive to start a route. But if there is a place for which this monastery stands out, it is, without a doubt, the dining room attached to the kitchen run by Father Ángel.
In the weeks before the lockdown, the monastery set up a YouTube channel to broadcast the masses live. However, COVID-19 forced them to take an unexpected alternative: set up a kitchen channel . Months later, Father Angel's recipes would add more than 85,000 subscribers. The only source of income for the monastery during the pandemic, especially when the hostel can only enable 30% occupancy these days.
“We weren't expecting it,” Father Ángel tells Traveler.es after serving me a bowl of rice in broth that, for a moment, takes me back to Granny's kitchen. “ I think the reason for this success has been the simplicity . Nowadays, the modern kitchen has taken a different direction and demands more of the earth than it can produce . Here we take advantage of the foods that we have in our environment to create simple and traditional dishes, from forn rice to cardoons in almond sauce." Your specialty?: " the stews , of course".
The result of this philosophy unfolds every day in different ‘de la terreta’ dishes capable of awakening a certain nostalgia in you : beans with minced garlic, fideuá, fish with vegetables and, of course, a paella on sundays that more than a meal, it seems like a kind of divine ritual.
That naturalness is perceived in each dish, in the insistence to repeat whenever you want and a close treatment that confirms Father Ángel as a little celebrity in Gilet . Like the pillar of a kitchen that makes up one of the many dimensions of a retreat like this.
YOUR VERSION OF SILENCE
The first requirement for a withdrawal of silence is of course disconnect the mobile . At first it is difficult, yes, but soon after you get used to the absence of sauces in WhatsApp groups and notifications of the health crisis. It's a slow but steady release . In any case, there is Wi-Fi in the monastery and the coverage can continue to be active, especially in these times of emergency.
The next step is to merge with the environment . If your spirit animal is the mountain goat, the monastery is the best starting point to take advantage of the mornings and go on a hiking route: you can climb to the Pico del Águila and the Rodeno de la Creu , whose panoramic view of the monastery reminds you of your shipwrecked condition in a sea of pine trees instead of a desert island. And stop to sniff the rosemary, bathe in silence only interrupted by a deer , or share some philosophy with a hiker upon reaching the top.
The rest is up to you. In addition to being able to attend the different religious events (the liturgies gather the cloister in an elevation due to the health crisis), make routes or give you a wine in a lost town , there are hundreds of reasons to reset: you may be in opposition or you may be with your partner enjoying a few days of calm. That you need to refresh the ideas , seek answers or be a writer with no time to continue that novel (I don't know how many poems I have come up with these days).
Here the only alarm clock is the sound of the bells and your soundtrack the lo-fi songs that immerse you in your own trance . Or maybe the whisper of the pines as they dance with the lift, who knows. There are as many versions of silence as there are shortcuts to reach your center.
It may be that at the end of the retreat, the silence has bounced back with their voices, or that you leave with so much desire to talk as to set up a podcast channel. They are the secondary effects of “El Frenazo”.
Because if this year the confinement made us value our house even more and the return to town in summer to appreciate those little things, a monastery is the perfect refuge to gain perspective and start from scratch . To understand that places are not only places, but also states of mind. And if you go further, even spiritual. Peace and good!
Holy Spirit of the Mount