Roncal Valley
Made up of seven villages, crossed by the river Esca and bordering the Aragonese and French Pyrenees, this valley has a lot to offer you. It is home to the highest peak in the Navarrese Pyrenees, the Three Kings Table (2,444 m), and the only glacial valley in this part of the Pyrenees, together with the oldest beech forest in Europe.
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With shady forests and solitary paths, you will be surprised by its silence, disturbed only by the sound of water and the squawking of birds. The villages with their cobbled streets and south-facing balconies show you that you are in a mountainous area. Villages such as Burguí, the birthplace of the almadieros (the trade of those who brought wood down the river on log rafts). Or Urzainqui, separated by the river into two neighbourhoods. It is said that the Christians lived in one and the Agotes (inhabitants of the Pyrenean mountain range who were discriminated against for centuries) in the other.
Roncal is the capital of the valley, which is reflected in its stately mansions with Renaissance porticoes, Gothic windows and coats of arms. Also of note are its fronton and the beautiful public school building, together with the museum dedicated to the tenor Julián Gayarre. And we must not forget Isabawith its imposing church dominating everything and its 18th century baroque organ.
In the municipality of Isaba is the Belagua Valleywhich acts as the head of the Roncal Valley. Belagua is the only glacial valley of NavarraYou can enjoy beautiful views of this valley from the pass, on the Isaba-France road (NA 1370), from Venta de Juan Pito and from the military refuge located at km 16.
The Belagua Pass gives way to the Larra Nature ReserveThe largest in Navarre, with limestone rock massifs and black pine, and where the well-known Piedra de San Martín is located, a boundary marker with the French Pyrenees, bordering the Baretous valley (France), where every year on 13 July, the Tribute of the three cows.
It is a twinning festival that commemorates the peace reached between the Navarrese and the French after submitting to the arbitration of the bishop of Ansó, and so the French of the Baretou valley give three cows, chosen by the people of Roncal, as tribute for using their pastures in summer.
In the corner of Belagua you will find the Aztaparreta reservoirIt is a virgin forest that has not been exploited for more than five hundred years and is the oldest beech forest in Europe.
