Cervatos Things to Do Tips by easyoar

Tiny village with a naughty secret

To stop in Cervatos, you'll probably needed to have:

(1) - A pretty detailed local guide book
(2) - Already read it

Otherwise most people will drive straight past Cervatos in Cantabria, Spain without a second glance. OK, so there is a sign showing that there is a church from the 12th Century. The church looks to be in a pretty good state, but what's the big deal? You're driving along the "Camino de Santiago" (the Way of St James - pilgrims used to walk to Santiago de Compostela where there are apparently relics of St James [St James in Spanish is Santiago]). There are old churches dotted all over it.

Well this church has something that no other church I am aware of has, as will become clear as you read on! It's not the sort of thing you expect when you visit a church at all!

Little else to see...

Well just in case you wanted to see more of Cervatos, there isn't actually much more to show, it's a tiny place. I don't think their modern art is up to much, as this weird carving/sculpture thing by the church shows. Somebody appears to have gone to a lot of effort producing it and bolting it down.

The only question it produced when I looked at it though was "Why?". Still each to their own I suppose.

The naughtiest carving on Cervatos Church?

Alright, you twisted my arm. Strangely when you are at the church. most people seem to miss these carvings, even when they are looking for them, and they go away disappointed. Well I suppose having a good telephoto lens helped ;-) Well what's going on here? Is this some kind of strange wrestling? Well perhaps not - or pehaps it was ancient mud wrestling of sorts? Perhaps we'll never know???

I still don't know how the carver got away with producing such carvings on a church that was frequently visited by holy pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, or how they haven't been defaced by some puritan over the years. Perhaps nobody noticed until recently? Not very likely is it?

A naughtier carving on Cervatos Church

Well if that last carving was "proud", then what must this guy be? I don't think there is much I can add to this one, but it isn't the standard fare you get to see on a normal church.

How on earth these carvings survived the Spanish Inquisition is anybodies guess, perhaps they just burnt some random villagers for penance?

But hang on a minute, this one isn't even the worst one I could find. Should I do one more?

Directions: Just below the roof on Cervatos Church

A naughty carving

To visually zoom into one of the carvings that are up on the edges of the roof, it looks like just another gargoyle type carving (this is not a gargoyle as it does not act as a water spout) that you see on many old churches. But hang on a minute, the carving looks remarkably "proud" of himself, it's almost like he has lost half of his third leg. And to think this is one of the more polite "naughty" carvings on this church.

Directions: Just below the roof on Cervatos Church

Carving on Cervatos Church

This is the carving around the doorway into the church. Pleasant enough, but nothing you won't have seen on a grander scale around bigger churches, but this is why most people that stop in Cervatos actually stop here. It's still not clear yet though is it? Still considering this carving could be as much as 800 years old, they look to be in very good condition.

Directions: Around the door on Cervatos Church

Cervatos Church

This is the church in question. It's the far side of the village from the Camino de Santiago, which means it is about 1 minutes walk from the road. Yes, the village really is that small. It's remarkably well preserved considering it dates back to the 12 Century, but is it really that unusual? From here there doesn't seem to be anything at all unusual about the church, and the door was locked, so I couldn't go inside, but I didn't need to...

This can't be the naughty secret

Is this the unusual thing about the church in Cervatos? It's a old sun dial, and at first site it appears to be working, it's saying the time is about 13:30. Well don't set your watch off it, when I took the picture, it was actually 15:40. No, this sun dial is actually built into the wall of the church, but it is not the more unusual thing about the church.

The sundial is to the right hand side of the churches main entrance

Directions: Cervatos Church