Fill the tank: Monfragüe awaits you
“Since you don't love me, I die every day, and I feed, with my meat, in Monfragüe, black vultures”. Definitely the chanted antihymn of Extremoduro (Extremaydura) put on the map the province of Extremadura in general and the Monfrague National Park in particular.
We are ready to go from end to end by car through the route enabled for vehicles. To get to Monfragüe it is enough to turn off the A-5 towards the EX-A1 shortly after passing Navalmoral de la Mata (if we come from Madrid). The signs will indicate the itinerary at all times.
Once we leave the motorway on the EX-389, the landscape of abandoned dryers in the middle of the greenery that they offer oaks, cork oaks and gall oaks It will tell us that we are reaching our destination, which in spring will be adorned everywhere with floral colors: the white of rockrose, the purple of thyme and the yellow of broom.
The restaurant and rural hotel Monfrague Gate , as its name suggests, is at the entrance to the National Park. Will be the last place with kitchen and accommodation until we get to Villareal de San Carlos , so if we want to demand any of their services, this is the time.
Many of the viewpoints have bird observatories and picnic areas
Shortly after we meet the first viewpoint, Portilla del Tiétar, that will mark the modus operandi of the entire route: park the car in the car parks set up for this purpose, go down with our camera and/or binoculars and go in search of native birds.
Monfragüe extends to the banks of the Tiétar River at its mouth to the Tagus. On its shores we will see impressive rocky walls, ideal places for birds of prey to nest: black vulture, griffon vulture, Iberian imperial eagle, short-toed eagle, kite, eagle owl...
Also other types of migratory birds, mainly the black stork Many of the viewpoints will also have bird observatories and picnic areas , and some sources to fill the canteen. These viewpoints will be happening every few meters with a greater or lesser degree of spectacularity.
The gorge as it passes through the Monfragüe National Park
After leaving behind the observatory of The Fresneda , the green meadows at the mouth of the Cansinas Creek towards Tiétar they offer an idyllic place to set up a picnic on the riverbank.
The castor gives an unbeatable panoramic view of Tiétar. The scale , on the other hand, offers the geological curiosities of the mountain and its mantle of thickets.
The Bad Turn offer the immensity of the work done by man: the views of the dams of the Torrejón-Tiétar and Torrejón-Tajo reservoirs.
the roof offers numerous picnic areas in a peaceful green meadow with impressive rock walls on the banks of the Tagus in front.
Don't forget your binoculars to spot the native birds
A little later, the Fountain of the Three Pipes It is another idyllic place to enjoy our sandwich or lunch box, with its stone fountain worthy of a scene from The Lord of the Rings and its tables set up in the cool shade of its trees.
after traversing Fold , the route continues to turn left towards ** Villarreal de San Carlos , the only town that we will come across inside the park.**
Is about a small village (hamlet of Serradilla) oriented exclusively to tourism: restaurants, bars, rural houses, picnic areas, public toilets, fountains, tourist office, interpretation center, huts for nature classes and starting point of innumerable routes to do on foot, on horseback or by bicycle.
Views from the castle of Monfragüe
The next stop is the Cardinal's Bridge , built in 1450 to cross the Tagus and currently abandoned, whose dilapidated state gives the enclave a totally post apocalyptic look own of The walking dead.
Next to the car park we have a great panoramic view, but his thing is go down taking a walk to cross it with our own feet. On the way, picnic areas, huts and a fountain (although without water at the time of writing this article).
Arriving at the end of the route we find the most emblematic place of Monfragüe: the Gypsy Leap. An impressive gray stone wall eaten away by that characteristic yellowish lichen of the area on the banks of the Tagus and nested by all kinds of birds: vultures, storks, falcons, Egyptian vultures, eagles and eagle owls...
Vultures at Salto del gitano
Thanks to their proximity, they will fly over us a few meters from our heads, so we have to use up the reels we have left. Junipers, holm oaks and foxgloves grow impossibly in its cracks.
Shortly after the route ends up stopping to the left to see the Monfrague Castle. In the small hermitage, next to the castle, is kept the carving of the Virgin of Montfragüe, from the XVII-XVIII century.
Place to say goodbye to the National Park and once again return to the car in search of the A-5 (now by the EX-208) to heading home with a memory full of photos.
Monfrague Castle