You can find the village of Bagergue in the middle of a beautiful green scenery or covered by a layer of an immaculate white, depending on the time of the year you go to visit it. But you are certainly going to think that it is a beautiful place because it is one of those towns that seems as if it was taken from the pages of a fairytale.
Located in the Pyrenean region of the Aran Valley, it is the highest village in the area. You will have to go up over 1,400 meters to reach this beauty made of stone houses, slate roofs, wooden balconies and with flowers everywhere when the weather permits it. Once there, you should go to see the beautiful Romanesque Church of Sant Feliu and take a walk to the hermitage of Santa Margarita. Also, do not miss the Eth Corrau museum, even if you are not much into visiting museums.
And why are we telling you that? Well, because in here, thousands of pieces are gathered and show what everyday life has been like, in this valley, and this is not just any valley. Nestled in the Pyrenees Mountains and exposed to its harsh climate, it was isolated during many centuries, and only the waters of the River Garona made easier the relationship with its French neighbours. This made it become part of the historical region of Occitania and marked its character and culture, as well as give it its own language, the Aranese dialect, also spoken in the south of France.
At the present time, the little more than a hundred inhabitants of Bagergue make a living mainly from tourism. The ski station of Baqueira Beret is only a short distance away, and, it is a top-rated winter destination.
Of course, as it is usually the case in places like this, there are many legends. One of them speaks about the giant Mandronius, a man almost three meters tall with herculean arms who lived in a cave. He was the nightmare of the Roman invaders who also had the sick idea of kidnapping his wife and daughter. He destroyed their camp and freed the women, but such a demonstration of strength did not make a very good impression to the neighbours, who instead began to see him as a threat. The locals ended up managing to defeat him. And so, Mandronius, dishonoured, ordered his servant to stab him in the back of his neck and ended up buried in this mountains. As a good legend, everything sounds normal up to then, but in the twentieth century, it is said, a farmer from the area who was digging the soil to plant some potatoes found an enormous skeleton… And with this, we finish this audio guide, and we leave you thinking if this legend is true, it is half true or just one more legend.
