21 Nov 2019

Tourism in Autumn. LANDSCAPES OF CATALONIA.

Tourism in autumn to fully enjoy a captivating and chromatically unsurpassed landscape.

The trip through Catalonia is full of surprises. It is probably impossible to discover everything, but you can enjoy your countless experiences in a territory that can easily be traveled, since it is possible to make a journey from North to South in just three hours of travel in car.
Catalonia has a wide heritage and, in the autumn season, tourism linked to nature and the landscapes offered by the territory is especially attractive due to its totally unsurpassed color load.

More than ninety-eight monuments scattered throughout the villages of the Pyrenees help to know their medieval art. The Romanesque monasteries of Ripoll and Sant Joan de les Abadesses are two of the most representative vestiges. The natural surroundings of the areas of Osona, Ripollés and Cerdanya frame a landscape that in autumn is especially attractive.

The Garrotxa area, on the other hand, offers a different experiences with the option of taking a walk inside a crater built thousands of years ago, a balloon flight to contemplate a bird’s eye view up to forty volcanic cones, a bicycle route through a beech forest that grows on a lava wash or a delicious meal based on products from this black land. These are some of the experiences that the tourist or visitor can find in the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees. And with the arrival of autumn, the rains come and the forests are filled with mushrooms, especially in these regions of the interior and in the pre-Pyrenean area that allow you to enjoy tourist and gastronomic experiences in this natural environment.

Pyrenees is synonymous with good food. Among the varied gastronomic offer of the mountain, very unique sausages stand out, such as girella, which is made from lamb and from which recipes dating from the fifteenth century have been found. It is eaten fried or passed through the paella until it is crispy. It is a typical product of Alta Ribagorça area, where a fair is dedicated in October. From Pallars one cannot leave without trying the characteristic xolís, which is made with the best pork meat. The Anditos have recently recovered in Aran, small black pudding that had been eating in the valley since time immemorial. But, without a doubt, one of the most appreciated delicatessen products is the pate, finer and softer than the traditional French campaign pate.

You can also enjoy the area by taking a tour of its Greenways, which promote a new culture of outdoor sports based on non-motorized mobility and guaranteeing the accessibility of all users, without age or physical capacity limitations.

On the other hand, also in a natural environment, it is worth highlighting the Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, is one of the fifteen natural spaces included in the Spanish Network of National Parks, and the only National Park located in Catalonia. This is the most genuine representation of the high Pyrenees, and is unique for its majestic landscapes and rich flora and fauna.

The park contains fir trees and pine forests, some of them century-old, over 200 high mountain lakes and four peaks over 3000 metres high. It is home to 1500 vegetal species, 150 bird species, and 40 mammal species.

Situated between Pallars Sobirà and Alt Urgell, the Alt Pirineu Natural Park is the largest in Catalonia. Pernui, in the district of Sort, is the gateway to this park, but its offices are in Llavorsí, where the centre in the Pajar d’en Tonet can be visited, which offers information and organises exhibitions and workshops.

The park is home to a large number of protected species, both animals as well as plant, and it has a variety of landscapes from Mediterranean forests to alpine flora. The village of Alins offers the possibility of admiring one of the many peculiar trees of the area due to its age or its size: the Pla de la Selva Fir, a tree catalogued as a Natural Monument.

Of note in the landscape is the Glacial Lake of Certascan, the largest in the Pyrenees, and the Cigalera de l’obaga de Baleran, one of the deepest gorges in Catalonia. However, perhaps the most famous is the Pica d’Estats, the highest peak in Catalonia, which has become an authentic symbol. It is said that Jacint Verdaguer was the first Catalan to climb it.

The park also includes several towns and villages belonging to up to fifteen districts, where an interesting cultural heritage can be enjoyed, both at an architectural as well as an archaeological level in addition to works of sacred art.

CATALONIA, as in any other region, it offers endless activities. It is worthwhile, for example, to visit the prehistoric caves in Ulldecona or the well-preserved 19th-century pharmacy in the small agricultural town of Llardecans. The whole territory is full of corners, sometimes little commented, but revealing a story or a geography that make it attractive and is still a proposal for tourism either in a group or family