RIVER AGUISEJO ROUTE

This area is characterized by limestone rocks that create a type of relief known as karst. This forms when water dissolves the rock and gives rise to galleries, Among the main forms of the gorges, poljes.... relief found in the surroundings are underground cavities and the Villacadima sinkhole, which can also be visited. This type of rock allows the Aguisejo river to surface at this point.

This village is known for its black slate, combined with the limestone rocks from the spring. We can see these examples both in the houses and in the stone walls that border the vegetable gardens along the riverbank. Now, take a close look at a piece of slate. What do you see? Doesn't it seem to have layers, like the pages of a book? This is due to its structure in thin sheets, a feature of this metamorphic rock. Slate formed from ancient clay sediments that, under pressure and temperature over millions of years, were transformed into rock. The sheets we observe reflect its characteristic structure. Finally, the Iglesia de San Pedro, a Romanesque church, with one of the most interesting porticoed galleries in Spain.

It is a hill located next to the village, from which it takes its name. It is made up of the superimposition of successive rock strata, like the layers of a cake. If you look closely, the top layer, or lid, is limestone, which is harder and has therefore been affected to a lesser extent by erosion. This layer protects the materials below and helps to maintain the hill's characteristic shape.

Here the waters of the Aguisejo river take a leap, creating a waterfall. As the water falls over the rock, its pressure changes and it mixes with the atmosphere, so that all the limestone it carried from the spring gradually deposits in this area over the vegetation, forming a very distinctive rock known as calcareous tufa.

Located above the village cemetery, and easily identifiable by its beautiful colors and the dovecotes built in the area, we can find two distinct layers of rock. A lower one of folded slate, and an upper one of horizontal rocks formed by clays and sandstones. Between them there is a time gap of 230 million years! That is why this type of landscape is known as an unconformity. Located above the village cemetery, and easily identifiable by its beautiful colors and the dovecotes built in the area, we can find two distinct layers of rock. A lower one of folded slate, and an upper one of horizontal rocks formed by clays and sandstones. Between them there is a time gap of 230 million years! That is why this type of landscape is known as an unconformity.

Within the village, we can see several examples of traditional construction, which is shaped by climatic factors but also by the availability of certain types of rock. For this reason, slate and quartzite are used, along with calcareous tufa and adobe. The calcareous tufa that forms at the Santibañez waterfall can be found worked into the Tower of the Church of San Juan Bautista. Its architecture combines elements from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.