Bolger Family Travels: A Mountain Village. . .And A Legendary One At That

Our last and final stop on the wine tour did not involve wine at all. Instead, it was to be the clifftop village of Siurana.

It was about a half hour drive from Porrera, and I wisely used the time to nap. I fought it briefly, much like a nine year does when you hear car wheels on a gravel road after staying late at grandma's after dinner. You might think you will stay awake, but there's really no chance.

Carol passed out as well. She had texted me via WhatsApp to suggest we cancel the village visit. I briefly had the same thought, but fortunately I missed the text, so when I found it, we were already at the top of the mountain.

It was worth the extra time, and not going would not have saved me from my stomach issues later that night and much of Friday.

We parked outside the village and walked down to it. The village is so tiny and the streets so tight that there is not enough parking in the village.

Siurana was the last Muslim town in Catalonia, not falling until 1153. It had been held by the Moors for three hundred years. The legendary part of the story is that the Muslim Princess who was holed up in the castle at the top of the rock knew the battle was not going their way. So she blindfolded her horse and made it jump to her (and the horse!) death off the cliff. From a website:

"The end was tragic. The legend says that Abdelazaia, the Moorish Queen, decided to jump off the cliff to avoid falling on the hands of the Christian conquerors. In her quest to jump off, she rode her white horse to the edge of the cliff but the animal got scared at the last minute and tried to stop. The horse’s horseshoe imprint is left on the rock, at the edge, as sign of its resistance to death."

The other places I've read/heard about this, she was a Princess, so that's what I'm going with here. Obviously the marks were not caused by the horse, but that part helps make it a great story.

The town itself is a fine walk, with a seven hundred year old church, a connecting bridge between two buildings, and many fine examples of non-concrete homes. There is one hotel, one restaurant, and a small gift shop.

But, the real attraction to the place are the views. It is hard to convey, either in words or photos, just how beautiful the location is. The town is on the edge of an escarpment, so there are nearly 360 degree views from the edge of the town. Carol and I did not get too close to the edge, being a Muslim princess who plunges to her death has never been a dream of mine.

Pavel referred to this area as the Grand Canyon of Spain, but it reminded me more of Zion National Park in Utah. Either way, it is pretty spectacular. It is also a major rock climbing area for Spain. It is branding itself as an adventure capital.

Since peaking twice last century at under 300 people, Siurana has dropped to 162 full-time residents. Pavel noted that a number of people from Barcelona own summer retreats here, as it is a good escape from the heat. Now, "a number of people" is certainly NOT more than an additional 200.