Post by Owen on Jul 4, 2023 8:50:34 GMT
1 ~~~ Spain Has a Secret Ski Valley Hidden on Its Northern Border—and the Food and Wine Are Every Bit As Good As You'd Expect
If champagne breakfasts and hearty dinners in mountain villages sound like your scene, you may want to consider the Spanish Pyrenees for your next ski trip. There Tom Robbins discovers first-rate cuisine and a distinct, beguiling blend of cultures—both traditional and modern.
For an hour or more, we had been descending through a forest of black pine and fir, following a stream we could hear but not see. The snow lay deep, smothering the creek and turning tree stumps into giant white mushrooms. There were bears in these woods, said my guide, a young Spaniard named Peru Ortiz de Zarate, and bearded vultures that crunch on the bones of dead mountain goats. But we were making far too much noise to risk meeting these animals, laughing as we pushed past the trees that grabbed at our rucksacks and ski poles.
Finally, as if pulling back a theater curtain, Ortiz de Zarate parted two branches to reveal our destination. Ahead was a clearing in the forest, where a wooden bridge straddled a burbling stream swelled by melting snow. Beyond it, looking like something from a fairy tale, lay a deserted hamlet named Montgarri — a place of pilgrimage since the 12th century and once a key staging post for travelers crossing the Pyrenees between Spain and France. Today just two buildings remain, cocooned in silence and slow time: a 16th-century church with rough stone walls and a dilapidated spire, and the former rectory alongside it.
www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/skiing-trips/val-daran-spanish-pyrenees-skiing
February 2019
If champagne breakfasts and hearty dinners in mountain villages sound like your scene, you may want to consider the Spanish Pyrenees for your next ski trip. There Tom Robbins discovers first-rate cuisine and a distinct, beguiling blend of cultures—both traditional and modern.
For an hour or more, we had been descending through a forest of black pine and fir, following a stream we could hear but not see. The snow lay deep, smothering the creek and turning tree stumps into giant white mushrooms. There were bears in these woods, said my guide, a young Spaniard named Peru Ortiz de Zarate, and bearded vultures that crunch on the bones of dead mountain goats. But we were making far too much noise to risk meeting these animals, laughing as we pushed past the trees that grabbed at our rucksacks and ski poles.
Finally, as if pulling back a theater curtain, Ortiz de Zarate parted two branches to reveal our destination. Ahead was a clearing in the forest, where a wooden bridge straddled a burbling stream swelled by melting snow. Beyond it, looking like something from a fairy tale, lay a deserted hamlet named Montgarri — a place of pilgrimage since the 12th century and once a key staging post for travelers crossing the Pyrenees between Spain and France. Today just two buildings remain, cocooned in silence and slow time: a 16th-century church with rough stone walls and a dilapidated spire, and the former rectory alongside it.
www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/skiing-trips/val-daran-spanish-pyrenees-skiing
February 2019