With the newly released spring and a desire to travel that does not enter our chest, we have searched for a rural paradise that has even made National Geographic fall in love as it already did Calella de Palafrugell. This little and charming town declared a Historic-Artistic Site since 1979is the getaway to nature that we needed and is in Cantabria, four hours from Madrid.
Bárcena Mayor, a beautiful town frozen in time
The magic of Bárcena Mayor is that it is the only inhabited village in the Saja-Besaya Natural Park. And that implies that nature is its greatest virtue, although we love getting lost in its cobbled streets and its houses full of balconies and flowers and its arcades that store firewood to withstand the cold winter.
It is considered one of the most beautiful towns in Spainand we are not surprised that National Geographic has chosen it because it is an essential getaway for spring.
It barely has a hundred inhabitants and is nestled in the middle of small hills next to the layout of the old road that connected the Saja valley with Castilla. The Argoza river that runs through this small town offers an ideal picture that seems to us the ideal place to relax and escape from the noise of the city.
It seems to sprout like the beech and oak trees that surround it, and it appears almost out of nowhere from the road, from which we can see how its roofs stand out. With a beautiful stone bridge that leads to the town of Bárcena Mayor, we fully immerse ourselves in a town in which to lose ourselves.
The largest beech forest in Europe
One of the best ideas we can have when visiting Bárcena Mayor is to get lost in what is the largest beech forest in Europewhich can be accessed from the town and invites us to long walks and hiking trails. hiking not only in spring, but also in autumn when it is filled with brutal beauty.
Between the rivers Saja and Besaya extends the largest natural park in Cantabria with 24,000 hectares where the best preserved deciduous forests of the Cantabrian Mountains grow.
We have it clear and we are already preparing the suitcase for get away this spring.
Photos | iStock /Jose Miguel Sanchez, rudolf ernst, Jose Luis Alvarez Esteban, Carlos Larretxi)
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