Picos de Europa

Our next stop was one of Spain's national parks -- Picos de Europa.

This is Spain? This is Spain!

As we drove, the terrain became more and more mountainous, the traffic much lighter, the roads more winding and -- unfortunately -- the weather rainy and cloudy. But, it was lovely.

Waterfalls, hills, trees and flowers

The "Peaks of Europe," are the among the tallest mountains in Spain.

It looks almost arctic

Just 12 miles inland from the northern coast, the Picos were the first sight of Europe for ships arriving from the Americas. Most of the region is protected as Picos de Europa National Park.

Distant mountains

The range consists of three major massifs: Central (Urrieles), Eastern (Ándara) and Western (the Picos de Cornión). Central and Western are separated by the mile-deep Cares Gorge (Garganta del Cares). 

Very, very steep

Almost all of the Picos are glacially carved limestone.

Rocks, ice and caves

The area also contains many of world's deepest caves, including Torca del Cerro (-5213’), Sima de la Cornisa (-4944’), Torca los Rebecos (-4117’) and Pozo del Madejuno (-4107’).

From the top

Animals in the Picos include Brown Bears, Wolves, Chamois, Choughs (a type of crow), Buzzards, Eagles, Vultures and Butterflies. We saw some Hawks and two type of Vultures we had never even heard of -- the Egyptian Vulture and the Eurasian Griffon Vulture. Plus the area has lots of cows with big horns and big bells, herds of goats and beautiful Spanish draft horses, including many foals ...

Domestic stock

The parador in Fuente De -- which is at the end of the road -- is surprisingly gorgeous (especially at 76 euros a night). Our room faced the giant massif and had a small enclosed porch. I thought I took pictures of the room, but I guess I didn't. 

The parador from above

Unfortunately there are no roads into the Park -- hiking is the only way to explore -- and it was too, too wet to hike (plus there was too much snow on the high trails). 

Too, too snowy

There is a cable car that goes straight up the the Picos de Cornión mountain right next to the parador.

Going up and looking down

The top is a steep cliff.

That's the cable at the bottom left

We took the trip up and were fortunate to see some blue sky as the clouds scudded past. 

Steep and craggy

The trip up would not be good if heights bother you. It is about 2,500 ft. straight up. 

Panorama; Photo: Scott Stevens

At the top, there are trails and an observation deck (part of which is mesh -- pretty scary in the high wind we had).

Part is mesh: pretty scary in the high wind we had

But, still, ya gotta step out on it.

Yikes!

We stayed awhile, watching the clouds play with the mountains.

Wow!

After taking the cable car back down, we drove around to see the lovely scenery (it even cleared a bit).

A drive through the foothills

Not on theme

But, the next morning dawned with a downpour, so we decided to change our trip plan and move on to the north coast. It was sad because, even though it was lovely, it was foggy and gray and wet. So, with few roads to explore and hiking out of the question, we couldn't really enjoy it as much as I hoped. 

We did stop at the lovely Visitors Center. The outside looks like an air-conditioning unit -- not a match at all for the beautiful stone houses in the area. But, inside, the displays on geology, flora and fauna and history are well-done and well-laid-out.  

Rocky displays

Unfortunately, as a fanatic National Park Passport junkie, I was disappointed that they were unfamiliar with the concept of a stamp.

One more word on the Park. It is hard to tell when you are in it -- very few signs and lots of homes and farms (which probably pre-date the park by centuries). The biggest protected parts are not accessible by car.

Wild and beautiful

The drive out was damp, but quite pretty as well.

Amazing!

Trip date: April 25-May 15, 2015