Iter Facere

Saturday July 14 - The Vall de Boi

We headed off the morning to the Vall de Boi, just north of Pont de Suert. In a small area, there are seven 10th and 11tn century Romanesque churches. They are quite attractive. The first, in Erill la Vall has a seven story high bell tower and a particularly interesting sculpture over the alter, Its a Christ descending from the cross. Earlier we’d seen a sculpture in this same style, which surprised us then too. The figures are elongated, and almost abstract. My first impression each time was that they were modern sculptures. These were from the end of the 12th century. That shows what I know about art history. I’m always startled by the expressiveness of the naturalness of Romanesque or Gothic art. I have a preconception of it being stiff and unnatural, and once again my preconception is proven wrong. We went to the next church, in Taull, and while we waited for a tour to leave we had coffee at a cafe run by an American whose been in Spain for seven years. We had a nice chat. He confirmed for us that all of the building we’ve been seeing is vacation home construction. In Taull, sixty people live there year round, but there must be one thousand units in the village. The church, St. Climent de Taull has a number ofreproductions of the 12th century murals, very colorful and evocative. This church is only 2 kilometers from the first, and there is another church in the same village, which was closed for restoration work. Why were three churches built so close together at the same time? There are six others within five kilometers. Unfortunately, the brochures don’t really any answers. The town of Boi, just outside Taull, is also the jump off point for the Aiguestortes National Park. We decided to take a jeep taxi (the only way you can enter unless you walk) up to the park and walk around. That was a great choice. We were able to walk along an alpine stream up in a magnificent valley. It is one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been. The walk was easy too, which assuaged some of the trauma of the Ordessa walk. The mountains are just perfect, jagged and spiky. There are some attractive trees, some sort of mountain pine, which look like they would make good bonsai. They have short needles and dramatic bark. At the information station I grabbed the name Pinus uncinata. I’ll have to see if I can get one, maybe one for the garden. Our goal was a lake about 1 1/2 hours away, but our Ordesa fatigued legs gave out about a half hour away from the lake and we turned back.
After our wonderful walk we stopped and one more church and then came back to the hotel. We decided to try a restaurant in town, which didn’t turn out so well. A mediocre Spanish restaurant can be pretty blah.

posted by Jim @ 7:37 AM