In Bárcena Mayor, in the heart of the Cantabrian Mountains, you will find out what it is like to have the feeling of coming from the future. It is not only because of the surroundings, which have barely changed since the Christians sought refuge in this area from the Muslim invasion. It's rather because of the village. Because of its mountain houses three or four centuries old, its old laundry rooms, its open ovens, its fountains and its cobbled streets free of cars.
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In Bárcena Mayor, in the heart of the Cantabrian Mountains, you will find out what it is like to have the feeling of coming from the future. It is not only because of the surroundings, which have barely changed since the Christians sought refuge in this area from the Muslim invasion. It's rather because of the village. Because of its mountain houses three or four centuries old, its old laundry rooms, its open ovens, its fountains and its cobbled streets free of cars.
Everything has been tastily recovered, and the constructions of wooden beams and masonry walls have not lost their rural character. Because one thing is clear: it is the peasants who have made the history of this village. Here you will not find big palaces or a bunch of noble houses, but a beautiful set of traditional architecture that is also part of the natural park of Saja-Besaya.
It is a pity that we have so little data about Bárcena Mayor's past because some historians maintain that it is one of the oldest towns in Spain. Just think that, back in the ninth century, this area was slowly being repopulated around the monasteries, while much of the Peninsula was still under Muslim rule.
Around seven hundred years later, a young man who would eventually become emperor of half the world arrived on Hispanic shores looking like a rag. His fleet had been shaken by a storm and the teenage Carlos I was received in this town with music, fireworks and even a bullfight. Once he recovered from the wind and the reception, he continued his journey to the South.
Bárcena Mayor is a really unique case if you stop to think about it: a thousand-year-old village that today has less than a hundred inhabitants, declared a Historic-Artistic Site and located in a natural park overflowing with oak and beech trees. Well, Bárcena Mayor has everything, so, do not think about visiting it for much longer...
