Is there a village more picturesque to visit than Patones de Arriba, an hour drive from Madrid?
THE VILLAGE
This tiny village once was a small Kingdom for centuries. As the legend goes, the representative of the town once wrote a letter to The King of Spain, signed the King of Patones. Was it a joke? Signed by a mayor suffering megalomania? Someone who intended to make a statement? I guess we'll never know...
The village became nearly abandoned during the second half of the 20th Century when its inhabitants moved to the village down the hill - Patones de Abajo. It was finally preserved and restored when it got declared Bien de Interés Cultural (Important Spanish Cultural Heritage) in 1999.
THE HIKE
Today it's a not-so-rainy, rainy morning, perfect for a hike in the area before enjoying lunch in one of the village's gastronomic restaurants. The walk is perfect if you feel like an easy hike. The path crosses the hills, climbs are gently and we reach our highest point at 1264m, watching out over the Embalse el Atazar. A stunning view of the water reservoir that provides most of Madrid's drinking water. *
The area we are is a lower mountain range, that interesting enough, was formed during the times the ocean reached until here, millions of years ago. How do we know that? When we look around, the rocks we find are mainly slate (the stones that are used for the Pueblos Negros, like Patones). Slate is a stone with a sedimentary base (like sand, clay) that became transformed under enormous pressure, a process called metamorphism, which together with the erosion through wind and water, slowly formed the mountains we are standing on today... A short geology lesson of an area that seems to be an infinite source of natural gems!
Coming back to the village it's just about lunch time. Oh, and did I already mention it's about the best place to be this time of the day? ;-)
* MADRID FACT: if you want to make yourself loved by the madrileños you will have to admit, at least when someone mentions the word 'tap water', that the water of Madrid is the best in the entire country ;-)
#travelwithsense #viajarconsentido #slowtravel #meditation #guidinglife #hiking #explorer #mountains #spainbyfoot #gastronomichike #geology