Northern Coast to Ordesa National Park (Day9)
We have been traveling in northern Spain for more than a week now and the next three days were gonna be the big ones to finish our trip.
It was raining early that morning as well, so we had to skip sunrise and explore the city of Hondarribia, a maritime destination. It had numerous beautiful marinas, one of the them being Guipúzcoa, but unfortunately we had to skip all that because of persistent rain., So we spent our morning in the best way possible by having a delightful breakfast at the hotel and then starting our drive to Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido.
More rain meant that we had to skip the scenic drive via the Navarese Pyrenees. The drive was supposed to start from Valle de Baztan, one of the most densely wooded Navarrese valleys famous for its excellent hiking and climbing terrain. We had planned to stop at Oieregi, where most houses bear the valley’s emblem - a mermaid holding a comb and a mirror as well as q quick detour to the village of Lesaka, with fortified manors and ancient tombs are a part of this route. This road skirts through the fringes of Bosque de Irati, which is one of Europe’s largest deciduous forests and also passes through the famous and dramatic Arbayun canyon in the valle de Salazar. This is a deep river valley, where one passes mountain villages like Ochagavia, with its six stone bridges. The route finishes at Valle de Roncal, an alpine area that includes Navarra’s highest peak - the Mesa de los Tres Reyes. We definitely wished we had one more day here to explore Hondarribia and its surrounding area.
Instead of all of that, we left the Basque country and took the highways AP15 through Pamplona (Iruna) and A21 via Jaca. But we got a chance to stop and enjoy a beautiful blue lake which later we found out was the Embalse de Yesa in Zaragoza province. The only nice thing was that the rain had stopped once we entered the Aragon area and the big beautiful peaks of the Pyrenees were starting to come into view. It was a spectacular yet unexpected feeling of driving through mountainous curves with grand vistas of mountains, as these highlights of Spain's geography do not make it to the mainstream media.
Finally at around 3pm, we reached Broto parking lot where we were supposed to meet our mountain guide Gema for that afternoon. We took off in her raised suspension 4X4 towards the hiking trails and mountainous areas of the Ordesa National park. After an hour of driving up the mountain with scenic views at every corner, we parked at a spot right at the boundary of the National park. Here we did a long nice hike, stopping at several viewpoints and climbing a small peak, totalling about 4 hours. These viewpoints are known as the Miradores de Ordesa.
We got to see a lot of cute marmots, black kites and Egyptian vultures flying in the horizon and also the famous Rupicapra pyrenaica or the Pyrenean chamois, a goat antelope found only in the mountains of Europe.
We were also very lucky to spot a European hummingbird , an unusual animal. Most of us have seen or heard of hummingbirds sucking nectar from the flowers found in America. But this one is actually an arthropod properly named the Hummingbird sphinx or Hummingbird hawk-moth (Scientific name - Macroglossum stellatarum). Gema told us its local spanish name as “Europeo Mariposa Colibri ''. We were completely wowed by the little insect - bird!
After our hike when we finally got back to our car, the three of us snacked on some jamon iberico, cheese and tostadas which we had with us from our shopping . Food definitely tastes much more amazing when you have good company accompanied by such spectacular views all around us.
We got back to Broto parking lot around 9 Pm and said “hasta pronto” to Gema for that evening (as she was going to be our guide for the next day as well at the Bielsa sector of the National Park)). Our plan for the night stay was a hotel located in the middle of the mountain range in the small town of Nerin and far from the hustle and bustle of Torla and Broto.
On the way we took a stop at Fanlo where we watched the biggest ever full moon rising over the grand Pyrenees. It was one stunning landscape that will go down in the memory book forever.
Reached the Hotel Palazio Nerin just ten minutes until 10 pm where we quickly checked in and were the last people for dinner.
The beautiful family-run Pyrenean-style hotel lies in the heart of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park and offers fantastic mountain views from its terrace and rooms. Each guestroom has mountain-style décor with pine furnishings. This hotel is in the perfect location for taking a quick stroll into the small village of Nerín to experience the characteristic mountain atmosphere or use it as a base to explore the canyons, glaciers and waterfalls of the stunning Natural Park. We promised that when we came back next time that we would spend at least two nights in Nerin to explore the area around. Luckily we planned to stay in this beautiful place on a full moon night and booked the matrimonial suite with big windows all along the side facing east. We fell asleep discussing the future plans and with doors and windows open letting the breeze and the bright moonlight into our dreams!