Visiting Riaño town - León, Castile and León, Spain 🇪🇦

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By car it will take you only 5 minutes to get to Riaño but you can walk calmly towards the town and enjoy the views on the way.

A few kilometers from the small town of Boca de Huérgano (where I stayed most of the time) we found the pretty town of Riaño, located in the Regional Park of the Mountain of Riaño and Mampodre (120,720 hectares), all this  within the Picos de Europa National Park (extending to three provinces and being not only a national natural park but also the largest limestone formation in Atlantic Europe with important karstic processes, chasms over 1,000 meters and very evident glacial erosion).

Arriving Riaño.

Small orchards on the banks of the Riaño reservoir and the Riaño bridge  and the Gilbo peak in the background.

This charming town located 95 kilometers from the capital of Leon and with only 471 inhabitants, houses a lot of history and has neighborhood records dating back to the year 1752.

Wooden sign indicating some things to see in the town.

Perspective of the town from its eastern limit.

Perspective of the town from its northern limit.

To begin with its interesting history, both the old town of Riaño and eight other towns lie submerged under the waters of the Esla and Yuso rivers, under the current Riaño reservoir you can see all along.

Some of the inhabitants more anchored to the past and history of their village decided to commit suicide before being forced to leave their homes; some shot themselves in the head and others simply stayed inside their houses as the valley flooded.

Leonese fjords (1).

Leonese fjords (2).

Leonese fjords (3).

Leonese fjords (4).

The events had such transcendence in the 80s, that the Spanish Army had to occupy the area for months and the news from the whole world echoed what was happening in this village.

Of the historical and artistic heritage of the place we can highlight one of the granaries that they saved from the flood and the also recovered Romanesque hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, from the 13th century.

Salio hórreo: these constructions called "hórreos" are from northern Spain and are destined to store and preserve food (especially cereal) both away from soil moisture and from birds or rodents. The flat stones that you see on the legs of the construction are those specially designed to prevent rodents from climbing; in some areas those flat stones are made of slate (1).

Salio hórreo: these constructions called "hórreos" are from northern Spain and are destined to store and preserve food (especially cereal) both away from soil moisture and from birds or rodents. The flat stones that you see on the legs of the construction are those specially designed to prevent rodents from climbing; in some areas those flat stones are made of slate (2).

Hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Rosario facade, 13th century.

Next to the hermitage we have, possibly, one of the most beautiful viewpoints in Spain: "The most beautiful bench in León", with the Gilbo and Yordas peaks in front of it.

Wooden sign to the viewpoint.

YouTube Short from "The most beautiful bench in León" viewpoint:

Dresden in "The most beautiful bench in León" viewpoint (1).

Dresden in "The most beautiful bench in León" viewpoint (2).

On the southern slope of the town we have a 900-meter promenade that runs along a section of the reservoir, called "The memory lane", because along its route you will find explanatory panels on the history and past of this town.

YouTube Shorts walking along "The memory lane" and eating wild cherries:

Photographs taken with my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G camera.

YouTube shorts recorded with my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G camera

Sources on which I relied to give some accurate info about Riaño town, its history and surroundings: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)