Discover Isòvol: Badlands, Churches and Hiking Trails

Nature

Near Isòvol lies an arid zone known as Les Guilleteres, Esterregalls, Estorregalls and Badlands. Yellow, ochre and reddish tones characterise this zone. The Segre River has created deep, narrow gullies and channels. The different names therefore refer to the same distinctive landscape near Isòvol and describe its dry, highly dissected character from different perspectives.

You can reach the Guilleteres d’Isòvol on foot or by bicycle via a very pleasant path of about one kilometre from Plaça Major in All. Hiking is possible in a protected natural area near Isòvol. A viewpoint is located in a former quarry for the pink marble typical of Isòvol. One route runs entirely through the EINS Tossals d’Isòvol i Olopte. This places short paths, protected landscape and a longer route alongside one another as different forms of experiencing nature, without losing sight of the area's geological traces.

Culture

The Aplec de Quadres takes place on the second Sunday of September every year. It includes a mass and a communal lunch. The recurring date thus combines the religious occasion with a firmly established communal element of the local annual cycle.

Santa Maria de Quadres was a venerated sanctuary and pilgrimage site for many centuries. In the 13th and 14th centuries, it was known as Domus hospitalis de Santa Maria de Cadris. It was a hospital chapel for pilgrims and travellers. The pilgrims and travellers were travelling from Coll de la Perxa to La Seu d’Urgell and followed the Way of St James. In this historical tradition, veneration, pilgrimage and the provision of care for travellers came together in a single place.

Religious Buildings

Sant Miquel d’Isòvol is a former parish church of Romanesque origin dating from the 13th century. The present Neo-Romanesque building replaced it. The current Sant Miquel d’Isòvol church has a single-nave layout. Its apse faces east. The entrance faces south. Sant Miquel therefore reveals both its earlier Romanesque construction phase and the form of the present church building.

Sant Miquel d’Isòvol is built from local stone. The building contains blocks of pink marble quarried at Tossal d’Isòvol. The marble is thus connected both to the local landscape and to a specific architectural feature of the church.

The parish community of Sant Pere d’Olopte has been documented since the late 10th century. The present temple was originally known as the San Félix chapel and was built between the 12th and 13th centuries. The Romanesque portal of Sant Pere d’Olopte is richly sculpted. It consists of five archivolts. These alternate rectangular forms with columns and torus arches. The apse rests on a plinth more than three metres high. This plinth gives the church a particularly slender appearance. The details of the portal and the high-set plinth thus characterise two different aspects of the same Romanesque building: the sculptural design of the entrance and the vertical effect of the apse.

A directly linked local page leads to Olopte.

More local pages: Serra De Daró, Riudaura, Sales De Llierca, Castelló D’empúries, Llampaies, Sant Feliu De Pallerols, Torrent

To the higher-level travel overview: Girona.