Page 32 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Northern Spain

30  INTRODUCING NOR THERN SP AIN

Landscapes and Nature of Northern Spain

A mountain wall extends right across Northern Spain,
through the length of the Pyrenees, the Basque Country
and along the north coast in the Cordillera Cantábrica,
before spreading out and turning south into the hills
of Galicia. The mountains contain the most spectacular
scenery, and separate Northern Spain from central
Spain, creating the green, Atlantic climate that gives
the northern regions their distinctive feel. Many parts
of the northern mountains remain remote, thinly
populated and thickly wooded, and so provide a Medieval stone bridge across a fast-flowing
home for a fascinating range of wildlife. river, Picos de Europa

Mountains
The mountains reach their highest
points in two great massifs, the High
Pyrenees and the Picos de Europa,
much of them above 2,000 m
(6,560 ft), and with alpine landscapes
of massive rockfaces, gorges and
near­infinite views. They are dotted
with alpine flowers and animals
found only in high mountains such
as snow voles and chamois. High
above fly eagles, falcons and vultures. The Picos de Europa, straddling Asturias and
On the lower slopes, meadows Cantabria, form Europe’s largest national park. With an
explode into colour with flowers excellent network of paths and refuges, it’s a fab ulous
and butterflies each spring. area for walking and climbing, with beautifully
contrasting scenery of peaks, meadows and valleys.
Eagle owls are recognizable by
their large “ears”, or tufts above
each eye. Living in the woods Chamois live amid
around mountain valleys, they the highest peaks, on
hunt for small birds and animals mountain grasses and
at dusk and at night. flowers found in rock
gardens between the
bare crags and scree.
Blue, purple and Astonishingly agile,
yellow gentians they can leap
are characteristic remarkably quickly
flowers of the high into the rocks when­
mountain pastures ever eagles or other
and rocky plateaux predators appear.
of the Pyrenees and
the Cantabrian
mountains.

Griffon vultures are
a frequent sight in
the Picos de Europa
and the Pyrenees. In
their search for prey
they circle on huge
wings high above
the slopes, riding the Rippling river in the Parque Nacional de
rising air currents. Ordesa y Monte Perdido, the Pyrenees

030-031__Feat_.indd 30 13/09/16 5:29 pm