Frozen Snow
IELHA
V
«A wall of rock stands between
Spain and France,
dressed in snow and in storm,
like God’s arm,
which reaches and touches the
star-emblazoned sky.”
Jacinto Verdaguer
And Its Parador
he Catalan Pyrenees are a highly varied affair, according to the
region one is in. The Atlantic side is quite different from its
Mediterranean counterparts. The animals, the forests, the waters that feed
the cattle are all a natural element of the shape of each area. The relief
composes discordant temperaments here and there. The stone of their
constitution and the effort of being born join the summits of the valleys.
They are mountains, those ranges of the west, which show their teeth. On
their own, they walk along the horizon, allowing themselves to be ground
by the twilights and the ice of the centuries. The hillocks and fields
allowing themselves to be pinched by the goats, hoes and tourists.
T
After the good hard work of the tertiary, which erected the mountain
range at the same time as the Alps, what followed were the unyielding
movements of the quaternary thaw. Once the edges had been smoothened,
the mountains remained as they are nowadays, blue, arduous, backed
with black pine, separated from one other by valleys, beech forests, water
mirrors and irises.
No trace of human existence remains of that era when the ice presided
over summits and valleys. The mountains had to consent the circulation
of water and pastures for the most remote men to ascend and suspend
from the rocks the primitive shelters and imposing dolmens. Throughout
this most benign sub -boreal period, around the year 2000 BC, tribes of
shepherds were able to colonise these difficult lands for the very first time.
Their presence here continued until the invasion of the Celts, who had
ventured into the mountain range from central Europe, when the
humidity inundated it with vegetation until making almost uninhabitable.
It is then when the Indo-European invasion divided the mountain range.
Of the two zones, one flows towards France, Spain, Rosellón, Catalonia,
La Rioja, Castile and what later became Andalusia. The other expanded
in a more restricted manner towards the west, from Pyrenean Navarre to
Gascuña.
The new culture, helped by a greater generosity in rainfalls, gave the
population a particular uniformity and identity that the Romans would
take a long time to change.
The Giants
Of The Mountains
olibius, around the third century AD was the first to refer to the
Aran territory, pointing out the presence of a Pyrenean tribe
known as Arenosis. The Iberian-Basque origin of the name (“arán” means
valley in Basque) warns us of the presence of this village in the Valley,
and on other points of the mountain range, which they also gave their
P
VIELHA AND ITS PARADOR
1
name to, the Pyrenees (Mountains of the Moon).
There have been other etymological fables
that attempt to explain the naming of the
range. The extremely beautiful
classical legend, for instance, traces
the denomination of the mountain
back to the nymph Pyrene.
According to the legend, the
mountains were formed when, with
the purpose of stealing cattle from
Gerion the giant, Heracles came to
Iberia. Then, while the hero was
carrying out his task, Pyrene,
the guardian of the springs of
the valley, was forced to
abandon its waters, for the
monster Gerion had gone there
with the intention of possessing
her. The nymph took refuge in the
region separating France from
Spain, which was very much
wooded at the time. The six-armed
monster, who was unable to find
her, consumed by his own lust,
tried to reduce the forest to ashes.
Valley, which retained shepherding as its mode of subsistence.
While in the lands of Tarragona, brimming with olive trees, one could
count the jars of oil shipped to Rome in their thousands, Aran was still the
land of the bear, the Pyrenean goat, the capercailles, a singular fauna that
shared its dwelling with witches, sylphs, gnomes and other mythological
creatures. Of all of these, the most fondly remembered is the giant
Mandronius, whose skull is said to have been kept until very recent times
in the Church of Garós. The heroic feat of this giant took place in Roman
times, near Betlan, where the colossus lived in a cave with his family. The
legend tells that, with the help of a few locals, Mandronius assaulted a
Roman camp, rescuing his wife and daughter, whom the Romans had
taken as hostages. In order to increase respect for him, already
considerable for his imposing appearance, and avoid any
retaliation, he sent to the Caesar of Rome the amputated ears
of the soldiers of his legion. This act of intimidation yielded
good results, for the valleys remained free from any Roman
invasions since then, but the legendary violence of the giant
led to a desire on the par of his neighbours to capture him.
Such a neighbour was too dangerous and the deed was done.
Mandronius, captured by surprise and wounded in his giant’s
pride, ordered one of his loyal followers to perforate the
back of his head with a nail. The skull, kept in Garós
for centuries, is proof, according to some locals, of the
veracity of this story.
The nymph, already touched
by the flames, cried, sobbed and
gushed such painful torrents of
tears that the “estanys” sprung
from them.
Hearing the cries, Heracles
ran to help the now-agonising nymph. The hero, highly moved, then used
his own hands to create a funeral pyre over the corpse of the beautiful
naiad; the high mausoleum of the Pyrenees. The ranges of the Aran Valley
were not initially enclaves of much interest for the Romans. The inclement
territory, lacking in ores to extract, was of no more interest to the Republic
than as a military post. The native population was thus able to continue
with their lives as shepherds, practically unaffected by Romanisation until
the passages of the mountain range became the means of communication
between the provinces of Gaul and those of Tarragona.
Hannibal was the first to point out the Pertús passage after using it to
cross the mountains and gain ground from the Romans in the Second
Punic War. Subsequently, Caesar himself, in order to rid himself of
Pompeii, who was entitled to the government of Spain, cleared his way
through the mountains in the year 49 BC. This expedition had some
impediments at the banks of the Serge, which overflowed, sweeping away
the two bridges Caesar had ordered to erect. But the goddess Fortune was
on his side. The waters resumed their course and following several days of
isolation, while awaiting the rescue convoy, which came to help him from
Gaul, Caesar reached his objectives, and emerged victorious in Octogesa.
The commercial vitality experienced during Romanisation left numerous
bridges, aqueducts and other monumental infrastructural remains in
Ampurias, Tarragona and other points in Catalonia. The remnants of all
those centuries in the Aran Valley are less clear. The effects of ploughing
and other technical advances, which substantially changed the
physiognomy of the sites and the economy, was of no importance in the
VIELHA AND ITS PARADOR
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The Kingdom Of Aragon
T
he Valley fell into Roman hands in the year 585 AD. Other areas
of Catalonia had long been under the Visigoth sword. Euric had
conquered Tarragona after a difficult struggle in 476. Christianity already
had bishops spread all over the peninsula when the Visigoths reached the
Aran valley. The well-known comment by the bishop of Urgel on the
“Cantar de los Cantares” (Song of Songs) is from the year 535.
But the Visigoth years were few and none too significant. Barely two years
later, had the Arabic invaders taken over Catalonia. Tarragona, Barcelona
and Girona fell under their dominion in less than a decade. Roda, Ager, the
Alto Urgel, Cerdaña and Ribagorza remained the same as before, albeit
showing the frequently devastating effects of the Saracen campaigns
against Gaul.
The next data we know of regarding the valley dates back to the twelfth
century. The valley became the fief of the Count of Comings, under the
order of Peter II of Aragon, who requested a donation from his wife, María
de Montpellier, in accordance with a strategy that maintained the Occitan
lands under his dominion until his death in the Battle of Muret. On 13
September 1213, Ramón VI of Toulouse, an ally of the King of Aragon,
lost between 15,000 and 20,000 men and the vassalage of the County of
Toulouse, of Foix and of Comminges. The victor, Simon of Montfort,
became the Duke of Narbonne, Count of Toulouse and Viscount of Beziers
and Carcassonne. This victory had been made possible thanks to the
sudden support of Pope Innocent II, who believed he was thus putting an
end to the Cathar heresy that had propagated its doctrine all over the
Occitan territory.
Other crusading battles followed that of Muret. The holy war did not
cease until the enemy had been totally crushed. A predictable result if we
take into account the unequal combat between the holy army composed of
500,000 men, and a small handful of preachers and a few villagers from
the regions, who had been poisoned by the demon of heresy. A little after
Muret, in Beziers, near Perpignan, the troops of Monfort killed its
inhabitants, some 60,000 people. The Abbot Arnoldo imposed an infallible
criterion onto the troops: “Kill, kill them all, for God will distinguish them
in heaven.”
Fortunately, not all of the church’s methods were violent ones. Saint
Domingo de Guzmán, at the time, seeking the pacification of the Occitan
region, resorted to a more civilised instrument, which was also more in
accordance with the spirit of religion: rosary prayer. This method, according
to the saint, harboured those who prayed under divine protection, which
meant they became immune to heresy.
Aquell Temps Cóm Era Jais
(Those days in which
there was merriment)
he territories of Occitania fell under the power of Philip II of
France in the year 1271, following the death of Alfonso, Count
of Poitou. And despite the wars and purges against heretics, the region
lived a time of merriment that was conveyed in the songs of minstrels.
T
Administratively, Occitania was divided at the time between the French
regions of Aquitaine (except for the French Basque Country), MidiPyrenees, Limousine, Auvergne, Languedoc-Roussillon (except for the
department of the Eastern Pyrenees, which belonged to Northern
Catalonia), Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur and part of Rhône-Alps, PoitouCharentes and the Centre.
One single language was spoken all over this territory, which included
the Aran valley, namely Occitan, mostly in is Toulouse linguistic variant. It
was in this language that the most important poems of the eleventh and
twelfth centuries were written and sung. Its origins still remain a mystery:
they have no connection with folklore or with the poetic tradition in the
Latin of their time.
It is unquestionably an entirely original genre that was developed
mouth-to-mouth by the minstrels of the area under description, without
any visible exterior influence in the songs. There are sources that attribute
the first creations of the genre of the minstrels (acrobats and singers
without luck) to whom we surely must owe the songs of heroic deeds. The
abundance of minstrels linked to nobility (poets with an aristocratic title,
that is) considered those first poems in vulgar language a mere amusement
for the upper classes, created by some of its lyrically most capable
members.
Whatever the case, there is no doubt that, between the twelfth and
fourteenth centuries, it was a literary language in France and the north of
Spain, for all genres, except for the novel, for which prose was preferred.
This was recommended by Ramón Viadal de Besalú in his “Razos de
Trobar”. From the f irst and most famous minstrel of all times, Guillermo
de Poitiers, ninth Duke of Aquitanique, whose possessions exceeded those
of the King of France himself, to the professional writer, represented to
perfection by the Catalan poet Cervera de Giron, with only 120
compositions to his name, not to mention the conflictive Guillerm de
Berguedà, accused of treacherously murdering Viscount Ramón Folc de
Cardona, minstrels were a most varied group of people, all of them
endowed with wit, a lyrical sense and an effective satirical humour.
VIELHA AND ITS PARADOR
3
Centuries Of Independence
T
he convulsion experienced by Catalonia throughout the following
centuries; the expansion policies, their Mediterranean commerce,
the revolt, the recession and decrease of their domains, etc, had very little
effect on the Aran valley, which lived for hundred s of years, according to
their own norms, dictated (or rather, taken down)
by the Conselh Generau d´Aran in the
Querimonia. The Carta Magna was ceded by
James II on 26 September 1313. This put down
in words the laws and customs that had
always ruled the valley.
Almost in the middle of the twentieth century, the Valley once again
became the place for an invasion from the other side of the frontier, except
that this time it was not French troops but Spanish rebels. It is thus that
on 19 October 1944, under the conviction that they would obtain
international help, with the war lost and Franco the caudillo, a thousand
or so guerrilla fighters who had fought the Civil War went down to the
valley. Nine days after the “reconquest” operation had finished, with 129
dead guerrilla fighter and 214 wounded ones and most of the 218
arrested rebels executed.
The parchment in question, valid until
1935, shows the peculiarity of this people,
who rejected Roman Law, canonical law and
Germanic law; a human group of a much
older lineage, very probably linked to the
Iberian colonisers who arrived at the Ebro
and the Basques.
A wheat cister per house was the tax
that the Aranese had to pay the King for
enjoying the Frankish lands and waters for
watering and moving the mills, from then
onwards. Without any other real licence than that
conceded, the Aranese were authorised, in their valley and
mountain, to use the pastures as they felt best, to reap the grass, hunt any
animal, use their meet according to their judgement, cut wood….Even the
treaty of the Pyrenees, (7 November 1659) which put an end to the Thirty
years’ War, in which the Spanish state ceded Roussillon, Conflent, Vallespir
and part of Cerdaña to the French, (creating a frontier quite like that
known to us nowadays) or, later the Nueva Planta Decrees, by virtue of
which Philip V suppressed all Catalan privileges, failed to disturb the
shepherding course of Aranese life.
In the valley, each house had a name that was also used to refer to all
the members of the family inhabiting it. Of all of these, the “cap de la
casa” or “padrí”, the “mestressa” or “padrina”; the “hereu”, the “jove” or
the “pubilla” and the “pubill”, only the “hereu” (oldest son) will be in
charge, as sole inheritor, of protecting the property in its integrity. For the
goods bequeathed not to leave the family and remain in a single
“latifundio”, once the marriage has taken place, there was a series of legal
chapters, established before a notary, and fixing the heirs, dowries and
place of residence.
Invasion Of Modernity
t was Napoleon’s armies that brought the peaceful life of this
mountainous region o the printed page of History when, one
day of 1810, they chose the port of Vielha to sneak into the
peninsula and govern Spain. The centenary privileges of Aran were
abolished then. The valley, with the regency of María Cristina, became par
of the newborn province of Lérida.
I
It was barely four years after the pitiful event that led Spain irreversibly
into a dictatorship that would continue until 1975 that the Valley was
brought out of its isolated winter with the construction of the Vielha tunnel,
remodelled in 2007. Nowadays, the valley has recovered much of its
autonomy and historical tights, continues with its traditions and is therefore
the subject of much tourist interest.
A Summit At The Other
Side Of The Tunnel
he guest of the Parador that has chosen this accommodation in
winter, whether skiing be part of their intentions or not, will find
in Vielha the atmosphere of the skiing season. Baqueira Beret, which is
very close, is one of the preferred destinations of snow lovers in this part of
the Pyrenees. It is also convenient that newcomers should know that the
valley is very cold in winter and that, although it is much more bearable in
spring and summer, it is recommendable to bring along warm clothes and
boots if they have the intention of walking a path or road. The good
endowment of tourist services in this geographical capital of the region
fortunately does not undermine its local colour, which can be seen in its
architecture, or the genuineness of its entities which, as the owners of a
language of their own, have managed to preserve the characteristics of
their culture for centuries.
T
From the Parador that looks onto the mountains, one can enter Vielha
through the Avinguda Castiero. Let us go to the church that is firmly and
clearly indicated by the eighteenth century tower of its bell tower. The
main figure of the parish is San Miquel. Except for the aforementioned
VIELHA AND ITS PARADOR
4
In the factory the visitor now has before him or her,
one can observe the different phases of the process and
technical devices they require: first of all, the current of
the river Nere that pushes the mill. The engines of the
machinery that moved the wooden wheel, thanks to the
water channelled along 200 metres, which flows from the
river, remained functioning, relieving much of the work
carried out by the women until a flood destroyed them in
1963.
We will have seen the basic things of the village if,
finally, we start walking west, where its first dwellers
erected their megalithic monuments. One must cross
the whole town and follow parallels, on the right
of the road of França. Ay the height of the fire
brigade, we shall find it: a menhir known here as
the Stone of Mijarán.
tower, what is dominant in the temple is late Romanic.
We enter the church through a gothic gateway. The font is from
the twelfth century, while the main altarpiece, in polychrome wood, is
from the fifteenth. The most valuable carving to be found in these vaults
was not originally conceived for the devotion of the parishioners, is from
the neighbouring church of Santa María de Mijarán. This is an
unusually large head of Christ, a unique Romanic exemplar, which must
have been part of a superb descent from the cross.
Master Nature
National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany De Sant Maurici
The whole land, under these heights, is full of spells. It is difficult to
give in to one charm or the other.
Signs Of Identity
nce the visit to the parish is over, the traveller may go to the
Tourist Office, Sarriulera, 10, for the information found there
will be of great utility to organise the excursion or update the data, in the
event of having programmed it.
O
We suggest that from here, prior to leaving the village and giving in to
the magnetism that drags everyone that passes by to the mountain, you go
to the halls of the Museum de La Val D´Arán. The visit will be
particularly informative about a region with such marked historical and
anthropological singularities.
The tower that houses the collection, known as the tower of General
Martinhon, is part of a manorial house of the seventeenth century. In
addition to the archaeological remains and the utensils, pictures and
documents, of unquestionable ethnographic interest, it also includes highly
valuable medieval art, especially its two masterpieces, both on the figure
of Christ. The oldest is the Christ of Casarilh, a Romanic carving of the
twelfth century. The Christ of Escunhau (thirteenth century) is the
other crucifix present, another magnificent sample of Aranese Romanic
art.
There is also another museum of prime importance in Vielha, which
will allow the visitor to gain an on-the-spot understanding of the economic
and factory evolution of this small nation that has made the shepherding
of sheep and its derivates its main industry over centuries. The Wool
Factory was built toward the end of the nineteenth century by a citizen
and traveller of the area who learned the craft of carding wool.
It is impossible to be wrong in the choice of adventure: any route taken
from Vielha is profitable. If the traveller decides to go through the
National Park of Aigüestortes i Estany De Sant Maurici, he or she
must certainly take into account that this is the one National Park in
Catalonia and one which spreads between the regions of Pallars Sobirà and
Alta Ribagorça, along almost 14,000 hectares. Taking these data into
consideration, what is most recommendable is to program the visit, taking
into consideration the weather forecasts, the time and the energy we have.
Theme routes, itineraries with a guide, paths with signs,
maps, interpreting centre are among the many and very fine services
the traveller has at their disposal in Aigüestortes, and which give them the
opportunity o accommodate the excursion to their preferences. There are
itineraries on the snow (walking on rackets). Adventures between the
woods climbing the mountain tops, long walks through the shepherd’s
gullies. It will be possible to get to know the hills, under the light of the
quince tree, in the bright end of winter or with the thaw. There are special
routes for discovering the flowers, the fruits and the mushrooms of this
fauna, according to the season. There are even several night incursions,
some of them to see the stars, others for seeing the animals.
The Axial Pyrenean mountain has a very complete and concentrated
sample in is park of its geological, animal and botanical traits. The
different altitudes, the morphology of its relief in relation to the winds and
the sun have resulted in a varied, live area, extraordinary in its nuances,
overwhelming. There are 200 pools, some 1,500 vegetable species and over
200 vertebrate species. One can see otters, wild cats, stoats, dormice
or griffon vultures.
VIELHA AND ITS PARADOR
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But there is still more. In order for the park not to suffer the effect of
civilisation the entirety of its perimeter, within a strip that adds a further
13,000 hectares, is protected on environmental grounds. This environment
adds to the ecological value the greatness of a Romanic heritage that is
among the most important in Europe.
Although it is the Valley of Boi which has the title of Patrimony of
Mankind, there are also splendid temples in the Valley of Aneu.
All the adjacent municipalities have information on the park. There is
also an Information centre in the upper station of the cable car of Estany
Gento. From Vielha, one can access the Park, both in the south, passing
through the tunnel, entering by the Valley of Boi, via the N230, and in the
north, circulating by the C-28, until reaching the information point of
Espot. The distance in both cases is one of 50 kilometres.
Breaking The Ice
A
ll food is circumstantial, welcome and helpful to man but
Aranese cooking is all the more so. The long snowy periods, the cold and
physical difficulties that the mountain range brings to the lives of the
nearby villages have encouraged a flaming diet, more material than
spiritual, for the peoples. Animal meat, from the mountain: Wild Boar,
Rabbit, Roe Deer and Hare.
Only the most accessible water animals have been used: river Trout and
dry Lobster. The proximity with France has spread that country’s
preference for certain dishes to those valleys, for instance, in relation to
Crêpes, which here, however, are beat in an idiosyncratic way (with
Cognac and Vanilla), which also extends to the manner in which they
are spread on the frying pan or stuffed. Another delicious dessert with
cognac is that which Macerates Plums within a bottle for weeks (or
more if necessary). The result of this is a drink and a dessert.
THE SECRET RECIPE
ROLLED LAMB WITH BLUEBERRIES
Ingredients: (For 4 persons): Approx. 1 kilo of rolled lamb. 300 gr. of
pumpkin. 1⁄2 kg. of onions. 200 gr. of blueberries. 1⁄2 kg. of mushrooms
(rovelló, or milk cap, which is much the same thing). Bones for broth. Salt,
dry chilli, laurel, thyme. A glass of white wine. Olive oil
As said above, vegetable stuffed with meat is preferred. What follows is
a reverse recipe of meat stuffed with vegetables. The above are the
ingredients for the meat. What follows is what is needed for the stuffing.
Ingredients: (stuffing): 1⁄4 Kg. of onions. 1⁄4 Kg. of milk caps. 1⁄2 Kg.
of beef mincemeat. 3eggs. Salt, oil, nutmeg, laurel and ground garlic
From the farmyard: especially Lamb, of course, but also Cow, Pork and
Chicken. Fruits from the Forest, Mushrooms too and the most
resistant Vegetables, used all over the north, especially in winter: the
Cabbage. It is in the way of preparing it that one can appreciate its
accent. A Gascon accent which, as in the language, is highly perdurable in
the stews, soups, in the fondness for stuffing.
Let us start with the stuffing. Slowly and lightly fry the onion, the
pumpkin and the small element of chilli, all of which has been cut down to
very small pieces. After 15 minutes, add the aromatic herbs and half of the
glass of wine. Once this has been poached and reduced, add the meat with
the eggs –already mixed and seasoned – until it is browned, at a slightly
faster fire. Once this is ready, we shall place the mincemeat and tie it rolled
with the lamb.
The Aranese Pot is at the head of the tradition: apart from what the
guest assumes it contains (that is, Beans, Pork, Potatoes, Chicken and
Bacon), it incorporates the aforementioned Cabbage, Black Sausage
(Butifarra) and Spicy Pork Sausage (Longaniza). It is an infallible
dish against the cold that is usually to the taste of newcomers, whatever
their origin.
We then place the roll into a large container and sauté it so that it gains
colour and body. We then pour in the vegetables, add another pair of broth
glasses and boil it all, with the lid on the container and at the slowest fire
possible. After an hour, we take it all out and cut it. It is served with the
vegetables at the top, previously warmed in the frying pan with a spoonful of
olive oil.
The Senganheta is a different matter altogether, for although it is
highly juicy and energetic, it tends to put off people with prejudices
because it is composed of pig’s blood. There are highly commendable
Potato and Cabbage dishes, both of them with Meat Stuffing. Paté
is also commonly used in these valleys (which, apart from liver, also
contains tuna loin, dewlap, all with pepper) and Pyrenean cheese.
Parador de Vielha
Crta. del Túnel, s/n. 25530 Vielha. Lleida
Tel.: 973 64 01 00 - Fax: 973 64 11 00
e-mail: [email protected]
Reservation Center
Requena, 3. 28013 Madrid (España)
Tel.: 902 54 79 79 - Fax: 902 52 54 32
www.parador.es / e-mail: [email protected]
Text: Juan G. D’Atri y Miguel García Sánchez Design: Fernando Aznar
VIELHA AND ITS PARADOR
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