Estancia of Santa Catalina and Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba starting at Jesús María
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
309 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 05
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Jesús María it runs 309 km to Jesús María; allow about 5 h 05 of riding. The stops in between: Jesuit Block, Estancia of Alta Gracia, Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba and back through Estancia of Alta Gracia. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Estancia of Santa Catalina
The Jesuits were more than priests. In seventeenth-century Córdoba, in the heart of what is now Argentina, they ran a university, a network of missions and a string of estancias, ranches whose profits paid for their schools. Santa Catalina, founded in 1622 in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas, was the biggest of them, and the buildings you see today are a handsome cluster of church, cloister, workshops and quarters set around a quiet courtyard. The church, with a baroque front of whitewashed stone and a bell tower, was completed in the mid-eighteenth century, shortly before the Spanish crown expelled the order from its colonies in 1767.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Estancia of Santa Catalina is where the day begins. Next is Jesuit Block.
2. Jesuit Block
The oldest university in Argentina is a block in the middle of Córdoba. When the Jesuits arrived in 1599 they began what became the Manzana Jesuítica, a whole city block with a church, a college and a university, and in 1613 they founded the Colegio Máximo, which developed into the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, one of the oldest in the Americas. The Iglesia de la Compañía, begun in the 1640s and finished some decades later, has a wonderful wooden ceiling shaped like an upturned ship's hull, built by craftsmen who knew about boats, with beams of local timber joined without nails. The block, together with the Jesuit estancias in the countryside, was listed by UNESCO in 2000.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jesuit Block comes up about 73 km into the recorded legs. Next is Estancia of Alta Gracia.
3. Estancia of Alta Gracia
Alta Gracia sits where the Córdoba plains begin to buckle into the Sierras Chicas, and its Jesuit estancia is the reason the town exists. The Jesuits established the estate in the seventeenth century, and by the eighteenth it was a thriving enterprise: a church, a residence around a cloister, workshops, and an ingenious dam with a reservoir feeding irrigation canals. It was part of the great network of Jesuit properties around Córdoba, collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, which funded the university and college in the city.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Estancia of Alta Gracia. Next is Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba.
4. Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba
Córdoba is Argentina's second city, a university town of about a million and a half people that has a faintly rebellious reputation. At its centre is the Manzana Jesuítica, the Jesuit Block, a group of buildings from the seventeenth century that includes the church of the Compañía, the old Jesuit college and the university, one of the oldest in the Americas, founded in 1613. The church has a remarkable wooden ceiling shaped like an upturned ship's hull, built by a Flemish Jesuit craftsman, with joinery that shows no nails.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Estancia of Santa Catalina closes the day.
Leg by leg
Estancia of Santa Catalina to Jesuit Block
Estancia of Santa Catalina → Jesuit Block is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Jesuit Block to Estancia of Alta Gracia
Jesuit Block → Estancia of Alta Gracia is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Estancia of Alta Gracia to Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba
Estancia of Alta Gracia → Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba to back through Estancia of Alta Gracia
Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba → back through Estancia of Alta Gracia is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Estancia of Alta Gracia to back through Jesuit Block
back through Estancia of Alta Gracia → back through Jesuit Block is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jesuit Block to Estancia of Santa Catalina
back through Jesuit Block → Estancia of Santa Catalina is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.