Twenty-four viewpoints, five museums and interpretation centres and 189 km of trails are the best way to explore the Courel Mountains. The Geopark offers a unique opportunity to discover its unique geology and amazing biodiversity, where humans have lived together since prehistoric times. White quartzite and dark slate make up the immensity of the Palaeozoic rocks of the Geopark, once deformed by large folds, such as the Campodola Natural Monument, of international interest. Inside the rocks you can discover fossils more than 300 million years old, while on top of them you can walk through the narrow river valleys and climb the steep slopes to discover the legacy of the ancient glaciers. All this while enjoying the native forests of chestnut, oak and birch trees, whose colour varies with the seasons, and which coexist with beeches, holm oaks and a wide variety of orchids that love the limestone terrain. At their feet, there are kilometres of caves inhabited by cave bears in the past. In the south, however, you will be surprised by our olive trees, cherry trees, orange trees and cork oaks, which are more Mediterranean.
The Courel Mountains witnessed the arrival of the Romans 2,000 years ago, whose astonishing legacy includes 66 Roman forts, 99 gold mines and more than 5 km of water channels. Also of note is a large Roman bridge and a tunnel dug to do nothing less than divert the river Sil. Gold gave way to castles, abbeys and churches, many of them built with exotic local stones or even brought from far away. Metals such as iron and antimony enriched our ancestors, leaving us an exceptional mining heritage. The Paleozoic Villages Route is undoubtedly the best way to get to know first-hand the traditional architecture of our mountain villages, with stone walls and roofs, and wooden balconies and passageways. Standing and in stone are also preserved flour mills, chestnut kilns and lime ovens that sustained the most rural economies, while nowadays fine slate is being worked to roof the roofs of half of Europe. You cannot leave without tasting the rich local gastronomy and the unique flavours of our wines, oils, chestnuts, honey and fruits such as cherries. The hives (or beehives) have always been surrounded by ingenious stone constructions to protect them from, among other things, brown bears, which have returned to stay forever in the Courel Mountains.
