Woke up under mostly clear skies, but with what appeared to be coastal fog rising up the Somiedo valley from the direction of the ocean. We wanted to explore the last major valley of the park so after breakfast we drove up the Valle del Lago road, making one small mistake as the center stripe on the very narrow road continued on into the tiny village of Coto while the main road (now without center stripe) turned off. Bob drove into the town with the road getting progressively narrower until we scrapped our right side mirror (glad we got total insurance!) and we could only turn up a very steep road to who knows where.
So I got out and directed Bob so he didn't back off a slope or get wedged between two houses and could turn around. We finally got to end of the park road just above the town of Valle del Lago and found a long parking area. I guess this area is flooded with hikers in summer and I can't imagine the traffic jams on these tiny streets!
We, on the other hand, had the trail mostly to ourselves and had a great time birding and looking at the beautiful flower-filled pastureland under clear blue skies with some puffy white clouds. We had to check out by noon, so reluctantly returned to the Palacio, packed up, retraced our route north to the CL-626, and continued westward, entering the state of Galicia for the first time!
Bob had read about a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Las Médulas, that was just off the highway to Montfort de Lemos, our next destination, so holding both the map and the GPS, I maneuvered us off the direct route and through Ponferrada (which happened to be on the map page center fold adding to my woes). We had trouble finding the turn-off and after turning around several times figured out that the round-about was combined with a small cloverleaf interchange and our road went west by going east, and eventually got on the correct road into the countryside.
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| Las Médulas |
The area was mined by the Romans in the first century AD, by digging tunnels into small mountains and then filling them with water which would collapse the area and then the miners would muck about finding the gold. Over the centuries the rains carved the remaining earth into orange-colored Utah-like structures.
We found the parking area and the information center, which is only open on weekends, then walked through the charming village of Las Médulas on the edge of the site which was loaded with Roman-themed restaurants, but no information about the site itself. We could see the scallop markers indicating that we were once again crossing the path of the pilgrims walking on the Camino de Santiago.
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| Roman-themed Restaurant |
We drove to a signed overlook, parked and walked the 1/2 mile steep path (which a sign said was only a 1/6 mile) and finally got to the overlook and could see impressive red soil structures, but absolutely no informational placards in Spanish or English. We have been impressed with the quality of signage elsewhere in Spain and to find a UNESCO site so ill prepared was very disappointing. Fortunately, we had Bob's library so we weren't completely ignorant!
All the houses in this area have slate roofs, disproving my theory that they are for snowy places, rather this is a major slate mining area with slate tile and blackboard factories all along the highway.
All the houses in this area have slate roofs, disproving my theory that they are for snowy places, rather this is a major slate mining area with slate tile and blackboard factories all along the highway.
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| Slate-roofed House |
It was getting late so.we continued on, crisscrossing the Sil River many times until we could see the town of Montforte de Lemos and the Parador set within an old monastery sitting conspicuously on top of a hill in the middle of town.
We settled into our room with its great views of the surrounding countryside and at 8:30 went down to dinner. It was one of those awkward situations where the food and service are very good but someone must have called in sick(?) as they were obviously very understaffed. We eventually got excellent Galician soup of potatoes, beans and spinach followed by delicious roast duck breast, but it was uncomfortable to see the overworked waiter panting as he efficiently dashed around serving all of us.
We settled into our room with its great views of the surrounding countryside and at 8:30 went down to dinner. It was one of those awkward situations where the food and service are very good but someone must have called in sick(?) as they were obviously very understaffed. We eventually got excellent Galician soup of potatoes, beans and spinach followed by delicious roast duck breast, but it was uncomfortable to see the overworked waiter panting as he efficiently dashed around serving all of us.
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| View of the Monastery Walls from Our Room |
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