Everything to the green!
From almost anywhere in downtown Vitoria-Gasteiz you just have to walk – or pedal – a few minutes to find yourself in the Green Ring, a set of peri-urban parks of high landscape and ecological value linked by eco-recreational corridors.
Some three decades ago the people and rulers of Vitoria-Gasteiz decided to put aside red and black for risk it all to the green in the roulette of the development of your city.
This is how they created legal regulations against noise pollution, opted for local transport and sustainable mobility, perfected waste management, saved water consumption and they supported the creation of new green spaces that ostensibly improved the quality of Vitoria's air.
Traveling the entire perimeter of the Green Belt – just over 30 kilometers – can take about two hours
In the year 2010, All these efforts were already paying off and the city received recognition for its risky bet, being elected European Green Capital 2012. The exact words chosen at that time by the European Commissioner for the Environment, the Slovakian Janez Potoznick, were: “Vitoria-Gasteiz is the city in which we would all like to live”.
Yes, it's true friend Potoznick: in Vitoria-Gasteiz it is a pleasure to live, for the purity of the air and its green areas, but also for its beautiful old town, the hospitality of its people and the pintxos and txakolís that they offer in their bars. But that's another story.
THE GREEN RING, A PROJECT BY VITORIANS FOR VITORIANS
In the 1990s, the outskirts of Vitoria-Gasteiz deteriorated by leaps and bounds due to the exaggerated and rapid urban and industrial expansion of the city.
The flora and fauna of the area was cornered, like the famous Gauls of Uderzo and Goscinny, by the heavy machinery and the buildings erected with great haste and little taste. The redoubts in which animals and plants resisted were small forests, such as those of Armentia and Zabalgana, and some rivers, such as the Zadorra, whose waters descended denser due to the pollution they dragged.
The forest of Armentia in autumn, with the handsome climber
However, the magic potion came in the form of large-scale action plan which extended the system of urban green areas to the periphery, recovered the forests, wetlands, meadows and the river, and, above all, It implemented an environmental education program aimed at young people and adults (in the Green Belt there are, for example, organic gardens), which deeply affected the conscience of Vitorians.
And it is that improving the quality of life of a city begins with something as simple as make citizens aware of the importance of this, and make them see that this will be the legacy they will leave to future generations.
That's how he was born the Green Belt of Vitoria-Gasteiz, a kind of irregular ellipse that surrounds the city and connects the parks and green areas with each other from Armentia, Alegría, Errekaleor, Olarizu, Zabalgana, Salburua and Las Neveras.
Total, more than 800 hectares, 90 kilometers for pedestrians and cyclists and various protected areas, such as Salburua and the Zadorra River, which in 2015 were declared a Special Conservation Area (ZEC), within the European Natura 2000 Network.
Vitorians and visitors who want to enjoy nature one step away from the historic center of the city.
Lagoons, rocky paths, wet meadows, poplars... give shape to the Salburua park
LUXURY BIODIVERSITY AND ORNITHOLOGICAL PARADISE IN THE SALBURUA WETLANDS
Of the different enclaves of the Green Belt of Vitoria-Gasteiz, there are two that stand out above the rest: the Armentia forest and the wetlands of the Salburua park.
The first is a forest mass in which there is an abundance the gall oak, a tree native to the area. It is located between the urban center and the mountains of Vitoria, main mountainous system of the municipality and habitual place of recreation of its inhabitants.
However, it is the great salburua park – covers just over 200 hectares of land - the one that most attracts visitors.
Salburua is made up of several lagoons – being Betoño and Arcaute the main ones - connected to each other by rocky paths and surrounded by wet meadows, poplars and a small oak grove. It is precisely these lagoons that give the park exuberant life and color.
Some nesting species live in them – such as the European pochard, the gray heron or the little bittern - and others that take advantage of wetlands to make a brief stopover on their long migratory journeys.
Thus, ornithologists go to them to see birds as beautiful and rare as the imperial heron, the aquatic warbler, the carretona teal or the spoonbill. Such a variety of species has led Salburua to earn the right to be declared ZEPA zone (Special Protection Area for Birds) by the organizations of the European Union.
Ornithological paradise in the Salburua wetlands
In addition, in Salburua there is also Ataria, a very complete interpretation center whose avant-garde architecture has the purpose of integrating with nature and where an attempt is made to promote and favor the proliferation of ideas around biodiversity.
In Ataria activities are offered for all audiences, involving visitors in the management of the park and the natural heritage of the area.
WALKS AND CYCLING ROUTES IN THE GREEN RING
The people of Vitoria, and the people of the Basque Country in general, have always been great lovers of bicycles and the Green Belt offers them a perfect excuse to go pedaling while enjoying nature.
Traveling the entire perimeter of the Green Ring – just over 30 kilometers – can take about two hours, depending on the rhythm, turning the experience into a perfect plan for a sunny morning, which in Vitoria-Gasteiz are more common than popular belief estimates.
Ataria viewpoint, the Salburua Park interpretation center