Pyrenees

The Pyrenees mountain range stretches along the southwestern border of France between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea. This is one of the most picturesque regions of the country - green mountains in the west are replaced by snowy peaks and dry foothills in the east, the population is also heterogeneous - there are Basques, Gascons, Catalans, and representatives of small European nations. And at the same time, compared with the Alps, the nature here is clean and untouched, there are extensive protected areas, but there are practically no fashionable and ever-bustling alpine-type resorts, and those that are are small, cozy and oriented, for the most part, not only on skiers, but also on fans of other types of outdoor activities. At the same time, the western slopes of the mountains rest against the coastal resort areas of the Spanish Basque Country and the French Silver Coast, and the eastern ones go to the warm Mediterranean coast. As a result, in the Pyrenees you can find conditions for almost any type of vacation, which attracts a lot of tourists here, primarily the French and Spaniards themselves.

The three northern regions of the ancient Basque Country - Labour (Labourd, Lapurdi), Bass-Navarre (Basse Navarre, or Behe ​​Nafarroa) and Sul (Soule, Zuberoa) - by will of history ended up in France. Situated now in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department, these areas are still inhabited by Basques, who call their homes Euskal-Eri (Euskal-Herri), and locals widely use both the mysterious Basque language and French. In this case, unlike their Spanish "relatives", the French Basques do not approve of separatism, so the general situation here is very calm and benevolent.

Scenery

Notable features of the Pyrenees landscape:

the absence of Great Lakes, such as those that fill the side valleys of the Alps

rarity and great elevation of passages

a large number of mountain showers locally called gaves, which often form high waterfalls, surpassed in Europe only by those from Scandinavia

the frequency with which the upper end of the valley takes the form of a semicircle of steep cliffs called an amphitheater.

The highest waterfall is Gavarnie (462 m or 1,515 ft), led by the Gave de Pau; Cirque de Gavarnie, in the same valley, together with neighboring Cirque de Troumouse and Cirque d'Estaubé, are well-known examples of amphitheater formation. Low passages are lacking, and the main roads and railways between France and Spain run only in the lowlands in the western and eastern ends of the Pyrenees near sea level. Between the two ends of the range, the only passages worth mentioning are Colonel de la Perche, between the Têt valley and the Segre valley, Port d'Envalira, the highest mountain pass in the Pyrenees and one of the highest points of the European road network, and Colonel de Sompora or Port de Canfranc, where there were old Roman roads, but obviously no modern highways.

The famous visual feature of this mountain range is La Brache de Roland, a gap in the ridge line that, according to legend, was created by Roland.

Natural resources

The metal ores of the Pyrenees are not in a general of great importance now, although there have been iron mines in several locations in Andorra, as well as in Vicdessos in Ariège and the foot of Canigou in Pyrénées-Orientales long ago. Deposits of coal, capable of being profitably worked, are located mainly on the Spanish slopes, but the French side has lignite beds. The Trimoun open pit close to Luzenac (Ariège) is one of the largest sources of talc in Europe.

Mineral springs are plentiful and wonderful, and especially noteworthy are Hot Springs, which the Alps are very imperfect. Hot springs, among which those of Les Escaldes in Andorra, Panticosa and Lles in Spain, Ax-les-Thermes, Bagnères-de-Luchon and Eaux-Chaudes in France may be mentioned, sulfuric and mostly located high near the granite contact with stratified rocks. Lower springs, such as those of Bagnères-de-Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées), Rennes-les-Bains (Aude) and Campagne-sur-Aude (Aude), are mostly selenitic and not very cold.

Climate

The amount of precipitation the range receives, including rain and snow, is much larger in the western than in the eastern Pyrenees due to the moist air that blows in from the Atlantic Ocean along the Bay of Biscay. After lowering its humidity in the western and central Pyrenees, the air is left dry in the eastern Pyrenees. Winter average temperature is 2 ° C (28.4 ° F).

Parts of the mountain range vary in more than one respect. There are some glaciers in the western and snowy central Pyrenees, but there are no glaciers in the eastern Pyrenees because there is insufficient snowfall to cause their development. Glaciers are bounded by the northern slopes of the central Pyrenees, and do not descend, like those of the Alps, far down into the valleys, but rather have their longest lengths along the direction of the mountain range. They are formed, in fact, in a narrow zone near the crest of the highest mountains. Here, as in other large mountain ranges of Central Europe, there is substantial evidence of a much wider freezing space during the Ice Ages. The best evidence of this is in the Argel Valley of Gazost, between Lourdes and Gavarnie, in Hautes-Pyrénées.

The snow line varies in different parts of the Pyrenees from approximately 2,700 - 2,800 meters above sea level.

The Pyrenees is an ideal mountain system: a long straight chain of mountains, from which, like branches, small side ridges extend, often strictly opposite each other. The valleys located between the transverse ridges are deepened by swift mountain streams to such an extent that they sometimes resemble the American Grand Canyon. In the upper reaches of the valleys are located glacial circuses - once rocky amphitheaters occupied by glaciers. From the walls of circuses, tapes of waterfalls fall to the bottom.

The Pyrenees are the most impregnable of all the ranges of Europe. Although their highest point, Aneto Peak, is almost one and a half kilometers lower than Mont Blanc, the average height of the Pyrenees is greater than the Alps. The snowy Pyrenees giants, lined up in a slender line, for the most part are about the same height, and it is not easy to find a gap in their mighty formation. The Pyrenees have only a few conveniently located passes, and these passes are on average twice as high as Alpine passes. Therefore, only four railways go from France to Spain: two of them bypass the Pyrenees along the coast from the southeast and northwest, and two more railways cross the mountains through a system of tunnels.

Interesting places

Nuria Valley

The Valley of Nuria (Vall de Nuria) or the Valley of Saint Nuria is located near Barcelona, ​​in the east of the Pyrenees. The valley is surrounded by mountains with a height of more than 2000 m. There is no automobile road to reach Nuria, it can only be reached by rail. This Spanish-language railway is called cremallera (cremallera), which literally means lightning. This type of railway and operates on the principle of lightning on a jacket, where the driving axis of the engine is equipped with a solid gear in the middle. This wheel gets into the teeth laid between the rails, which makes the train stable even on the steepest mountain roads.

A cable car has been operating here since 1931, on which you can climb to the observation deck, which offers a beautiful view of the peaks of the Catalan Pyrenees. The route is 12.5 km long and lasts about 40 minutes. Magnificent trekking paths are laid in the valley, there is a picturesque lake, a large church in the center and, next to it, a small museum of nature, as well as a hotel, souvenir shop and restaurant.

There is an equipped picnic area near the lake. In winter, the valley turns into a ski resort.

Aiguestortes Natural Park

In the north of Spain, almost in the center of the Pyrenees Mountains, is the Aiguestortes National Natural Park (d'Aiguestortes), which is the only national nature park in Catalonia and one of the largest not only in the autonomy, but along the entire chain of the Pyrenees Mountains. The park was founded in 1955. The main part of the park covers an area of ​​just over 14 thousand hectares with elevations from 1000 to 3000 meters above sea level. The elevation differences in this national park create an amazing variety of flora and fauna.

Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park

Ordesa y Monte Perdido - National Park of Spain. The park is a typical example of the natural complexes of the Pyrenees - there are gorges (canyons of Ordesa and Anisio, Von Blanca, Desfiladero de las Cambras, Escuain and Anisklo), picturesque mountains (Refujio Goris, Las Tres Sorores, Monte -Perdido), lakes, waterfalls.

The park was founded in 1918. Then its territory occupied 21 square meters. km, but in 1982 the park was increased to 156 square meters. km, and he got the current name. Ordesa y Monte Perdido.

In total, the park's flora has more than 1300 plant species.

The foothills of the mountains are covered with forests of beech and poplar, mixed forests begin above. In high mountain meadows at an altitude of 1500-3000 meters, many endemic plants grow, among them there is edelweiss, which is a symbol of the National Park of the Pyrenees.

In the park of Ordesa i Monte Perdido there are representatives of the animal kingdom of both Mediterranean and continental Europe. Forests in the park occupy 20% of the territory. Here you can find deer, chamois, roe deer, brown bears, foxes, nutria, squirrels and martens. There are also wild boars, marmots, water moles, muskrats, Pyrenees chamois.

The wildlife here is so rich that you have to periodically shoot animals to maintain ecosystem balance.

There are no highways in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido park. The main entrance is in the town of Torlo. Approximately 600,000 people visit the park annually. It is adjacent to the French national park of the Pyrenees, forming a huge protected area, in which a large number of tourist routes were laid.