THE VALLEYS OF THE PYRENEES
Like the territory's backbone, northern Catalonia is home to a natural setting in which a wide range of colours, from the grey of summits over 3,000 metres to the intense greens of the meadows, is unveiled to the traveller's eyes. Beyond the power of this landscape, the Catalan Pyrenees hold an important legacy, one of such extraordinary worth that it constitutes UNESCO World Heritage.
The most representative spaces and monuments, like Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park or the Romanesque architecture in the valley of Boí, give way to many other spots which guard the territory’s essence in secret. White winters, gastronomic autumns, springs for walking deep into the forest, summers in the fresh air...In the Catalan Pyrenees, every season has its own charms.
Come and discover it!
What struck Josep Pla in Val d’Aran were “the great pine forests of its important mountainsides”; he saw them as prodigious trees of a svelte elegance.
Nestled in the northeast zone of Alta Ribagorça and with summits reaching 3,000 metres, the valley is the gateway to Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park.
Being the least populated region of Catalonia only serves to strengthen the nearly mystical aura exhaled in the valleys of Àneu, Cardós, Vallferrera, Àssua, and Siarb which make up the High Pyrenees.
Its name (“Dark Valley”) comes from the geography it occupies: it is narrow and surrounded by large mountains. However, it is a far from gloomy territory.
The most unknown valley of the Catalan Pyrenees is a territory to discover, where the traveller can silently enjoy a landscape which has been kept virgin.
“A sensation of breadth, of elevation, of luminosity” was Josep Pla’s spot-on description of the effect produced by the landscapes of La Cerdanya on anyone who sees them
Now and then, the mist crosses the crests of these summits drawing a landscape which recalls the famous walker from the painting by Caspar David Friedrich.
In the northernmost county of the province of Barcelona abides one of the loveliest secrets of Catalonia with the source of the Llobegrat.
The Ter is a fluvial ribbon which connects Ribes and Camprodon almost in parallel, both settled in the oldest part of the Pyrenees.
In these two valleys it all seems like it’s yet to be discovered, with few inhabitants and small towns dotting an eminently agricultural and herding territory.
From the high-mountain forests of the eastern Pyrenees to the coves of Costa Brava, the Muga river has defined the landscape in all the areas of the county through which it flows.
