A medieval Spanish town is offering tourists the chance to buy homemade cookies made by hidden nuns.
The Convento de las Carboneras, a cloistered convent of nuns in Cáceres, Spain, sells artisan cookies and other sweets to tourists through small covered windows.
The nuns keep the centuries-old traditions of making marmalades, jams, cakes, cookies and sweets alive and well.
And as more and more tourists visit the fairytale town of Cáceres – where House of Dragons was shot – these nuns now make a living from this hobby.
Marco Mangut, a native of Cáceres who works as a tourist guide in the city, said Food and Wine: “I remember when I was a boy, walking with my father and his groups through the old town and stopping at convents to buy cookies from the nuns.
“This was a regular activity for us locals, and it’s something that’s in my earliest memories.”
The Convento de las Carboneras, or Convent of St. Paul, is located at the highest point of the picturesque city.
Upon arriving at the site, tourists are guided to a sign that says “Se Venden Dulces Artesanos”, which means selling sweets.
Near the sign is an intercom through which tourists can place orders for their cookies.
But it’s not that simple.
The tourist first needs to say the single phrase “Ave María Purísima”, which means Holy Mary, most pure and waiting.
A nun then responds by saying “Sin Pecadoceived”, which means conceived without sin.
A door opens to a hidden menu of items – handcrafted by the cloistered nuns.
Visitors can then choose items and place money on a tray that rotates until their order arrives.
The poor Clara nuns who make these iconic delicacies are members of the Roman Catholic Franciscan Order of Santa Clara, who have sworn to live a life of poverty, chastity and obedience.
The only way to make money is to sell these handmade products to tourists who often come to the convent to taste traditional Spanish recipes.
A few more cookie-selling convents are spread across Spain, including the famous Monasterio del Corpus Christi in Madrid.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story