What to do · La Alberca and the Sierra de Francia
Mogarraz and its portraits on the façades
Information
- Price
- Free
- Duration
- 1 h
- Season
- All year
- Who it's for
- Everyone
- With a dog
- On a lead; public streets
About 7 km from La Alberca by road, Mogarraz is the village of portraits. Tucked away among the forests of the Sierra de Francia, it keeps narrow streets of sierra houses of stone and timber framing, and on its façades hang hundreds of faces of residents, painted from photos taken of them in the village in the mid-20th century. Strolling in search of faces is the plan, and it takes an hour.
The portraits on the façades
The portraits form the Retrata2/388 project, which the town hall links to on its website. The whole village thus works as an open-air exhibition: there is no entrance fee or timetable, and they are seen simply by walking the streets and alleys. For children it works as a game to look for faces and compare ages and expressions. Wander without hurry and in no fixed order, climbing up to the upper part of the village and coming down by a different street.
The Camino del Agua
If you want to walk, the Camino del Agua is one of the park's art-in-nature routes: circular, 6 km, about two hours and 255 m of ascent and descent, of low difficulty, which can be done on foot or by bicycle. It links Mogarraz with Monforte de la Sierra among oaks and chestnuts, with the sound of water always in the background, and has six works of art along the way. Castilla y León Tourism rates it as suitable in any season. The town hall publishes a map of the route on its website.
Practical information
The tourist office is at Plaza Mayor 4 (676 758 392); in Easter week it is open Thursday to Sunday and public holidays, from 11:00 to 14:30 and from 16:30 to 19:30, and the rest of the year it is best to call beforehand. The village's cooking, according to Castilla y León Tourism, revolves around Iberian ham and cured meats. In summer there is a programme of cultural activities and the patron saint festivities of the Virgen de las Nieves, and on 1 November the Night of Souls (Noche de Ánimas) is celebrated: the town hall publishes the programmes on its website each year.
For a meal, the Mirasierra restaurant, in the upper part of the village, has a dining room with views of the sierra and grilled meats; at weekends it fills up, so book.
What to combine it with
Mogarraz lies between La Alberca and Miranda del Castañar, about 9 km away, and the three villages go well together in a day by car. If you liked the idea of art and countryside, the Camino de las Raíces starts at La Alberca, another circular route with six land art works. To understand the park before walking, the Casa del Parque in La Alberca has a model of the whole sierra.
With young childrenAs a familyWith teenagersWith a dog
