This is the story of our recent trip to the beautiful Catalan Pyrenees in May 2018. It's a short story, we only had about a week in the mountains, but during our stay in this beautiful region, we completely fell in love with it.
Vallde Boi and Aigüestortes National Park
Our first stop in the Pyrenees was the Vall de Boi, a UNESCO World Heritage site, famous for it's Early Romanesque churches and it's majestic scenery. Even though I was just as impressed by the small mountain villages, which are seemingly unchanged for centuries.
We visited the Vall de Boi at the end of May, and there was still snow on the peaks and in the forests. Looking at the houses with their thick walls, slate roofs, and small windows, everything here is build to withstand the long, harsh winters in the valley.
The village of Taüll, with the church of Sant Climent
Interesting wooden structure...
Time to start exploring the valley
We spent the fist day walking the trails in the Aigüestortes National Park. The name Aigüestortes roughly translates to twisted waters. Which is a pretty accurate description for the maze of small creeks and lakes up here.
Time to visit some of the famous churches.
The biggest and best preserved of the churches, Sant Climent de Taüll. Most of the churches were built in the 11th century. The design takes inspiration from churches in the the Lombardy region of Italy.
A bit more information about the history of the churches.
Some of the murals were removed from the churches in the 1920's. Today this would be pretty much unthinkable, but it was argued back then, that this would make it easier to conserve the artwork for the future. This is were modern technology comes into play. I have seen a lot of laser and light shows, but nothing was as fascinating to watch as this. The mural in the picture below is a laser projection. The artwork is recreated bit by bit in front of your eyes. Here's a link to a video that shows the whole laser show.
The image below has been censored.
I loved this place! I could have spent a whole day here. There was just one problem, snow! Tons of it blocking the path around the reservoir, so we had to abandon our plan to walk around the lake.
Since we had to give up our plan to walk around the reservoir, we spent the rest of our second day...driving around the valley, visiting churches, (literally) getting lost in the forests, and some more driving around. It was worth it though! We drove up a little mountain road to one of the ski lifts in the area. And the views from up there were just...wow!
This stretch of road looked interesting on the map. It looked even better in real life!
One last church before we leave the Vall de Boi. The little church of Sant Quirc de Durro sits on top of a hill, overlooking the valley.
No mountain chapel without a holy well!
After three days in the Vall de Boi it was time for us to move on to our next destination....
La Garrotxa, Santa Pau
The picturesque town of Santa Pau in the Garrotxa region of the Pre-Pyrenees, was our base for the second part of our journey.
The Volcanic La Garrotxa region of the Pre Pyrenees is a fascinating area...even though I have to admit I didn't know that when I booked the hotel. I was simply looking for a romantic hotel in a not too busy location. And the hotel Cal Satre in Santa Pau is exactly that.
We went for a walk through the village on our first evening. And one thing we immediately noticed, were the little allotments on the edge of the village. Every households seems to have one. It was so good to see people keeping an old tradition going. Growing their own vegetables is something that the people here have done for centuries. Even our hotel had his own little plot of land. Santa Pau is espacilly famous for it's beans, and so we had freshly picked beans from the hotel's allotment for dinner.
Serene. That's the word that best describes the atmosphere in Santa Pau. No one here seems to be stressed, there are very few cars, the little alleyways provide cover from the sun, there are small restaurants that sell three course dinners for 12 Euros, for me, this looks like the perfect place to just....chill out, write a book, or just enjoy life.
Old town, Santa Pau
This passage is the entrance to the market square. How many carts must have passed through here over the centuries?
Santa Pau is located in the Volcanic La Garrotxa region of the Pre Pyrenees. There are several walking trails through he forests that surround the town. We decided to walk the trail that would bring us out to one of the volcanoes, but also included a few churches and the famous Fageda d'en Jordà forest.
Whilst the Vall de Boi felt like an alpine landscape,rugged and wild, the Garrotxa region is much milder, more inviting. Walking through these dense forests was pure joy. I'm a fan of forests! I spent my childhood exploring the forests around my home village in the Harz mountains.
One thing we didn't miss was the church of Sant Miquel de Sacot. What a view! This scene feels more like a painting than a landscape. The view alone was worth the walk.
We made it to the Croscat Volcano the next day. Here it is, sliced open like a giant wedding cake
The Vall de Nuria is probably most famous for it's rack railway. The railway line starts in the village of Queralps and follows an old pilgrim path through the valley. We walked the old mule path and took the train back down into the village.
The old mule trek
The Wild West! The mountains, the railway line, for me this looks like something out of a Western.
The Virgin of Nuria shrine at the end of the pilgrim path.
There is also a big, big hotel and a train station. Which I won't show because they are a bit ugly...
And that was it! Time to say goodbye to the Pyrenees for this year. But we’ll be back! Oh yes, definitely! I’d love to see the forests of the Garrotxa in the autumn, or hike all the way up to the summits in the summer.
our final stop, Girona!
After 5 days in the mountains, we had to make our way back to Barcelona. So why not stop in Girona for a cup of coffee and a quick walk through the city?
The Game of Thrones steps. The city center of Girona is beautiful and definitely worth a visit! It was just a little bit too busy for us, so we wandered around the little side streets.
Not that the side streets were much quiter:)
S
I don't know what the South Americans celebrated, but they put on a great show!
A few shots from Girona
Finally...coffee!
I said this before, we fell in love with the Pyrenees! And it wasn't just the scenery that impressed us. The people are friendly, the hiking trails are well marked, and the regional cuisine is fantastic. So yes, we'll definitely go back there, maybe even next year.
