Palentine Mountain
The Palentina Mountain is located in the north of the province of Palencia and borders the regions of Burgos, Cantabria, and León. Its main towns are Aguilar de Campoo, Cervera de Pisuerga, and Guardo. Majestic peaks such as Curavacas and Espigüete rise here, sharing the spotlight with the waters of the Carrión and Pisuerga rivers, as well as beautiful lakes and reservoirs and rocky areas with unique formations like the Horadada Canyon and Las Tuerces. This natural landscape coexists with Romanesque treasures, beautiful villages, and a rich mountain gastronomy.
In 1838, coal was discovered near Brañosera, and nothing was ever the same again. Since then, the economy and demography of the Palentina Mountain have been tied to the black mineral, growing when coal and anthracite fueled locomotives and smelting furnaces, and declining when its extraction ceased to be profitable. The beginning of the end for the Palentina mines started in the 1960s until their definitive closure in 2014, and since then, the region has been losing population, up to 25 percent in this century alone. However, the closure of the mines has allowed people to view the landscape with new eyes, as almost the entire region is part of the Palentina Mountain Natural Park. This remote mountain range is where the Carrión and Pisuerga rivers originate, featuring peaks over 2000 meters high, deep valleys, beech and oak forests, abundant wildlife, and one of the largest collections of Romanesque art in the world.
Where are we?
The Palentina Mountain area is located in the north of the province of Palencia, with its nerve center being the municipality of Cervera de Pisuerga. It also connects Palencia with the provinces of León, Cantabria, and Burgos, which has shaped its geographical identity throughout history. Besides being a borderland, as evidenced by its numerous excavations, it has been a passageway to the sea, making it an important commercial hub where the mountains and the coast exchanged their best products.
The climate and orography of the Palentina Mountain have determined the agricultural and livestock production of our fields, managed from numerous centuries-old towns. The area has cold and long winters, and warm and short summers, resulting in small but exceptionally high-quality harvests of cereals and meats. Due to this, world-renowned biscuit industries and first-class beef have proliferated.
In 1838, coal was discovered near Brañosera, and nothing was ever the same again. Since then, the economy and demography of the Palentina Mountain have been tied to the black mineral, growing when coal and anthracite fueled locomotives and smelting furnaces, and declining when its extraction ceased to be profitable. The beginning of the end for the Palentina mines started in the 1960s until their definitive closure in 2014, and since then, the region has been losing population, up to 25 percent in this century alone. However, the closure of the mines has allowed people to view the landscape with new eyes, as almost the entire region is part of the Palentina Mountain Natural Park. This remote mountain range is where the Carrión and Pisuerga rivers originate, featuring peaks over 2000 meters high, deep valleys, beech and oak forests, abundant wildlife, and one of the largest collections of Romanesque art in the world.
Where are we?
The Palentina Mountain area is located in the north of the province of Palencia, with its nerve center being the municipality of Cervera de Pisuerga. It also connects Palencia with the provinces of León, Cantabria, and Burgos, which has shaped its geographical identity throughout history. Besides being a borderland, as evidenced by its numerous excavations, it has been a passageway to the sea, making it an important commercial hub where the mountains and the coast exchanged their best products.
The climate and orography of the Palentina Mountain have determined the agricultural and livestock production of our fields, managed from numerous centuries-old towns. The area has cold and long winters, and warm and short summers, resulting in small but exceptionally high-quality harvests of cereals and meats. Due to this, world-renowned biscuit industries and first-class beef have proliferated.
Palentine Mountain to the northeast
We begin the route of the Montaña Palentina from the northeast, stopping in Aguilar de Campoo and subsequently in its beautiful natural surroundings. Aguilar de Campoo is declared a Historic Site, and to get to know the town, we can start at the Plaza de España or the porticoed square. When viewed as a whole, two styles can be distinguished: one more Castilian, next to the Palacio de los Manrique, also called the Palace of the Marquises of Aguilar, in Baroque style, and another more Cantabrian, next to the Casa de los Siete Linajes. In the square is the Collegiate Church of San Miguel of Visigothic origin, rebuilt in the 12th century and later, whose bell tower ends in a dome adorned with two coats of arms of the Marquises of Aguilar. The main altarpiece is a Renaissance work attributed to Juan Vallejo, a disciple of Alonso Berruguete, of excellent quality. Inside is the Museum of Sacred Art.Continuing through the square, there is an alley that leads to the Paseo de la Cascajera, a recreational area of the town where the Pisuerga River shows its splendor. Here is the Tourist Office at the back of the renovated Cine Amor, where the International Short Film Festival is held during the Constitution Day holiday in December. In the center of the river, there are two islands, accessible and converted into parks, San Roque and also a children's park. In the eastern part of the Cascajera is the Romanesque church of San Andrés, moved in 1908 from its original location at the foot of the castle. In the afternoon, you can visit the 15th-century Monastery of Santa Clara, notable for its Gothic church and the choir's enclosure grille. The Poor Clare nuns sell sweets, jam, honey, and custom cakes through the turnstile.
Passing through the Tobalina gate, one of the six gates preserved in the old town wall (it had seven), you reach the Ursi Sculpture Museum, where part of the collections of the Palentine artist is displayed, such as Fuerza y tensión, El Bosque, or those dedicated to the mine, whose expressive force is very striking. In the northern part of Aguilar de Campoo is the hermitage of Santa Cecilia, a Romanesque jewel with valuable capitals. Inside, you can also enjoy the apostolate carved in wood by the sculptor Ursi. From its exterior, we access the castle, believed to have been built on a Celtiberian fort in the 9th and 10th centuries, where there was a small fortress that coincides with the current keep.
The Palentine Romanesque is found here in all its fullness. The Monastery of Santa María La Real is declared a Cultural Interest Site. It was built between the 12th and 13th centuries. The church and sacristy are the Romanesque and Territory Exhibition Center, also known as ROM. Next to the monastery is the cave of the legendary warrior Bernardo del Carpio. The rest was converted in 1984 into a secondary school and the first workshop school in Spain. The Cistercian-style cloister, decorated with capitals of vegetal and mythological motifs, is overwhelming. There is a guided tour of the monastery, including an audiovisual presentation of the church and different models of the population's way of life and how they built Romanesque churches. Additionally, it has a shop, library, and accommodation at the Posada Real Santa María la Real.
Known as the town of cookies, generations of Spanish children and not-so-children have had breakfast and snacks with cookies from Aguilar de Campoo. The capital of the Montaña Palentina once had five cookie factories, Fontaneda, Gullón, Fontibre, Ruvil, and Tefe in the 1960s, when it was known as the town of cookies, and the lives of almost all its inhabitants were linked in one way or another to the sweet Marias. That is why the conflict that put Aguilar de Campoo on a war footing in 2002 is still remembered when the multinational that had bought Fontaneda decided to close the old factory founded in the 1920s. There were strikes, sit-ins, and demonstrations, and finally, the Siro Group took over the facilities and most of the staff, who were progressively transferred to the new Siro factory in the Aguilar de Campoo industrial estate. On May 31, 2012, the last batch of cookies came out of the factory founded by Eugenio Fontaneda in the heart of the town.
In 2014 it was demolished to build housing, but the site remains empty and has become a parking lot at the foot of the church of Santa Cecilia and the ruins of the castle, both Romanesque in style. Currently, Gullón is the only surviving factory in Aguilar de Campoo of those mentioned earlier. This cookie and other sweets factory has exponentially increased its production, the size of its facilities, and the number of its staff, mostly young people, giving a strong boost to the Montaña Palentina. Aguilar de Campoo remains a town with a powerful food industry, but it increasingly pays more attention to its tourist resources, which are not few. The old town, declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1966, preserves six of the seven gates that flanked the medieval wall and is dotted with noble coats of arms that adorn mansions and palaces, such as those of the Manrique de Lara, in the charming Plaza de España.
On one side of it, houses facing south with large windows to capture the light, in the style of Cantabrian villas; opposite, Castilian stone mansions, emblazoned and with arcades, and in the middle, the majestic Collegiate Church of San Miguel, where Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles coexist. After circling its robust apse, through the Plaza de San Lorenzo, you reach Tobalina Street, where the Jewish quarter once extended. The street ends at the Tobalina gate, which may not be the most artistic but is the most photographed due to the framing formed by its stones with the neighboring half-timbered houses.
A few meters away, a bridge crosses the calm waters of the Pisuerga. Along the Paseo de Las Tenerías, you can return to the medieval portazgo bridge, which leads to the gate of the wall of the same name and the Plaza de España. A little further away, after walking along well-kept paths and parks by the river, you reach the Monastery of Santa María La Real, whose appearance has nothing to do with the ruinous state it presented at the beginning of the 20th century, which scandalized Miguel de Unamuno: "The ruins of Santa María La Real, a convent that was of the Premonstratensians, Ruins!" Indeed, the impressive monastery built between the 12th and 13th centuries, in full transition from Romanesque to Gothic, had been the victim of all kinds of clumsiness and trickery after the disentailment of 1835, leading to a devastation that seemed irreversible.
Between 1955 and 1968, the church, cloister, and chapter house roofs were restored, and in the late seventies, the Friends of the Monastery of Aguilar Association was founded, driven by José María Pérez, Peridis. The architect, cartoonist, and Romanesque enthusiast promoted a project that started by removing rubble and ended by creating a great center of cultural, social, and economic development, as it was not just about rehabilitating the monastery but giving it new life. Today, that association is the Santa María La Real Foundation, and the monastery walls house a Secondary Education Institute, a UNED center, and the Official School of Languages of Palencia, an inn, and the Romanesque and Territory Exhibition Center, ROM, a modern museum of Romanesque art that occupies the sacristy and the church, showcasing the historical context of the art that was born in the Middle Ages.
Main access routes
The main access is via the A-67 highway (formerly national 611) from the capital, Palencia. The nearest airport to Aguilar de Campoo is in Santander, 103 km away via the A-67 highway (just an hour's drive). The capital, Palencia, is 98 km away, and Madrid is 353 km away via the same highway. From the city of Burgos, you can take the A-73 highway. From the city of León, you can take the A-231 highway.This region is located in the northernmost part of the province of Palencia and consists of 18 municipalities within and outside the Palentina Mountain Natural Park.
The most important towns in the area are Velilla del Río Carrión, Guardo, Santibañez de la Peña, Cervera de Pisuerga, Aguilar de Campoo, and Barruelo de Santullán.
