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Wise Pilgrim APPArija sits on the Embalse del Ebro, a reservoir created by flooding the original town — 400 houses, 8 churches, 2 chapels, and a traditional glass factory were submerged. What remains is an "upper town" built after the dam and a "lower town" by the water. The atmosphere can feel a bit forlorn.
Hotel Rural la Piedra offers rooms. There's a small grocery store down by the water. The albergue appears to be permanently closed.
Arija has limited services — a pharmacy, the hotel, and the grocery store.
Once you leave Arija, you enter Cantabria. The approximately 18 km to Villafria are along the reservoir on the side of a road. The road is very quiet but cars go fast between villages, so stick to the dirt shoulder. About 7 km along, at Villanueva de las Rozas, you'll see the tower of a church that was submerged to create the reservoir — there's a walkway out to it.
After Villafria, the route is mostly off-road. Two highlights: the Roman ruins of Juliobriga (with a museum and church bell tower worth climbing) and, after a 200 m ascent through beech forest to the Pena Cutral, the descent to the Romanesque church of San Pedro de Cervatos with its famous erotic capitals and corbels.
