Church in Soria
Also known as Iglesia de Santo Domingo; Church of Santo Tome; Iglesia de Santo Tome
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
The standout Romanesque church in Soria, with one of the richest carved facades in Spain. The late 12th-century west front reads like a Bible in stone: a rose window over blind arcading, with sculpted bands running through the Massacre of the Innocents, the life of Christ, and the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse, and God the Father holding the Son at the centre of the tympanum. The work follows French models from the Poitiers region, and local tradition links the rebuilding to the marriage of Alfonso VIII to Eleanor of England. Originally the parish of Santo Tome, it was renamed after a Dominican convent was attached in the 16th century. Entry is free, the church keeps to worship hours, and the facade alone rewards the stop. It pairs well with the free Church of San Juan de Rabanera, the Plaza Mayor Soria, and a riverside loop to the Monastery of San Juan de Duero and the Hermitage of San Saturio.
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Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
The Alameda de Cervantes is Soria's main public park and the green heart of one of Spain's quietest provincial capitals. Locals still call it La Dehesa. It is free, open, and counts among the oldest urban public gardens in the country, with shaded avenues of ancient trees, a small chapel, ornamental fountains, and a music bandstand.
A medieval stone arch in the old town of Soria, a quiet survivor of the city's fortified past, free to walk through. It sits in the historic centre a short walk from Plaza Mayor Soria and the Church of San Juan de Rabanera, so it costs nothing to fold into a wander through one of Spain's least-visited provincial capitals.
A working parish church in the old town of Soria, free to enter and best known for the literary ground that surrounds it. The poet Antonio Machado set down some of his most quoted lines here: his young wife, Leonor Izquierdo, is buried in the Cementerio del Espino beside the church, and the elm in the churchyard is the one read into his poem "A un olmo
A small Romanesque church in central Soria, best known for its richly carved portal, which was salvaged from a demolished church and reset on this facade, and for the Byzantine-influenced apse behind it. Free to enter and one of the city's better examples of 12th-century stonework, it makes an easy free stop on a walk through the old town.
Baroque cave chapel built into the cliff above the Douro, dedicated to San Saturio, the patron saint of Soria. A frescoed octagonal interior and river views reward a free riverside walk, and entry is free for most of the year.
A free stone bridge over the Douro on the riverside walk that links central Soria to the cliff-side Hermitage of San Saturio.
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The whole of Soria