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| Sant Feliu de Barruera |
On to the Catalan Pyrenees we went. The star of this region's Pyrenees has to be the Vall de Boi, a valley that blends beautiful mountain backgrounds with UNESCO World Heritage sites. Within the valley, there are
nine Romanesque churches. Again, thinking back to the time it was built, it's amazing to imagine that they had such a need for so many churches within such a small territory. Granted, with the hills trekking to mass couldn't have been easy. But several are within 30 minutes walking distance of each other. There must have been a lot more hillside dwellers than nowadays.
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| Sant Climent de Taüll |
For 8€ we went in 3 churches and the Romanesque museum (which honestly wasn't that beneficial). Most of the churches have the characteristic bell tower that you can climb up. At Santa Eulàlia I went all the way up, but in Sant Climent de Taüll I got too nervous and had to go back down. And all of those bell towers still have very active bells. I guess if it were my job to ring them, I could've brought myself to regularly climbing up all the way. But not my cup of tea. In Sant Climent, perhaps the most famous one, they have a really neat audiovisual projection. The Romanesque art behind the altar is very colorful, although after nearly a milllenium it's quite faded. So the projection of how it would have looked made it more real.
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| Santa Eulàlia d'Erill al Vall |
Our campsite in the Vall de Boi was on the edge of an open field, with only one or two fellow campers. From the tent door we could see one of the Romanesque churches up on a hill about 500 meters away. The first night there was a bad storm. I cursed the fact that we had sought shade, imagining that the tree behind us could be struck by lightening and come crashing down. Obviously, that didn't happen. We survived! And barely any water got in.
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| Sant Joan de Boí |
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| Santa María de Taüll |
I really enjoyed the Vall de Boi. Nature and history: what's not to love? Lots of tourists, yes, but when we went down to one of the villages to have a beer, we heard a lot of Catalan being spoken. Also, when we had a nice dinner, it seemed the majority of diners were speaking Catalan. There the waiter pegged us for Galicians right away because of the accent. I didn't correct him. :p
