Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Las Omañas

What to see and do in Las Omañas (Astorga, León): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

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Spain › Castile and León › León › Astorga › Las Omañas

What to see and do in Las Omañas

Las Omañas
Village
Las Omañas is a municipality of 267 inhabitants situated at 934 metres of altitude, on the left bank of the Omaña river, whose name — like that of the comarca — is said to derive from Aqua Mania or Aqua Magna, referring to the confluence of the Luna and Omaña rivers that gives rise to the Órbigo. Human presence in the area goes back to the Bronze Age, from which finds such as the Villaceid cauldron or the Rodicol idol survive, as well as the castros of the Astur culture, later reused by the Romans to exploit the gold mines of Las Miédolas. In 1154 the area appears documented as the seat of the Mandación de Omaña at the castle of Aguilar, in San Martín de la Falamosa, chosen for its position between mountain and plain to defend the valley from Muslim attacks.
Castle of Aguilar
Monument
A ruined fortress whose origins can be traced in documents of Alfonso III at the end of the 9th century. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of the Mandación de Omaña, the division that organised the government of the Omaña valley.
Las Miédolas
Monument
An open-cast Roman gold mine at Las Omañas, province of León, smaller than the Médulas of El Bierzo but no less interesting, as it preserves examples of two of the three main methods used to extract gold in the north-west of the peninsula: comb or furrow ploughing, which used water to concentrate gold-rich sediment, and trench-and-channel working, with steeper furrows to carry off ore lying deeper down. This mining, which the Astures had already panned for in the river's placers, was supplied by a network of more than fifty kilometres of Roman channels that brought water from the sierra del Suspirón, more than twenty kilometres away.
Source of the Órbigo
Nature
In this district the rivers Luna and Omaña meet to give rise to the Órbigo, a fact recorded on the municipal coat of arms and one that explains the place name itself, derived from aqua magna, great water. Its banks are of poplar groves and hop fields.
First mention of the church of San Martín
Historical milestone
The church, which preserves Romanesque structural features, is cited in manuscripts of that date, making it one of the oldest documentary references in the lower Omaña valley.
Omaña-style cocido and miajotes
Food and drink
A self-sufficient cuisine based on the pig from the samartino, rye bread and the potato: cocido, migas, garlic soup and trout soup. For dessert, fisuelos and miajotes, a paste made from crushed blackberries and bread.