Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Vegas del Condado

What to see and do in Vegas del Condado (Tierras de León, León): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

How far each place is from the centre of Vegas del Condado

Towns near Vegas del Condado

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What to see and do in Vegas del Condado

Vegas del Condado
Village
Vegas del Condado is a municipality in the district of Tierras de León, with about 1,165 inhabitants, located in the transition zone between the Duero plain and the Cantabrian mountain range, with the Porma river, a tributary of the Esla, running through its eastern part. Its terrain rises from flat meadows around 860 meters to slopes exceeding a thousand meters, with heights such as La Quebrantada, Monfrío and the geodetic point of Vegas, at 1,066 meters. The Santa María reservoir, near Santa María del Condado, is another of its water resources. The municipality brings together thirteen villages and holds a pilgrimage to the chapel of Villasfrías with regional costumes, bagpipe and drum.
Hermitage of Villasfrías
Monument
The Villasfrías hermitage, in Villanueva del Condado (Vegas del Condado), has its origin in the old settlement of San Salvador de Villafría, located several hundred metres south of its current site, where the municipal sports centre stands today. The monks of the monastery of San Cosme y San Damián de Abellar, founded in 905, established a decania there in 953 to administer their estate, with a small chapel, their residence and the houses of the servants and tenant farmers who worked the land; the foundations of these buildings came to light when the ground was cleared for the sports facilities. Already mentioned by Madoz as the site of a very well-attended romería on Easter Tuesday, the hermitage remains the devotional centre of the whole Porma valley.
Floodplains of the Porma and the Curueño
Nature
A municipality of 133.9 square kilometres in full transition between the Duero plain and the Cantabrian range, where the Curueño joins the Porma. The place name itself comes from the Celtic ibaika, irrigable land that is sometimes flooded.
Pilgrimage of Nuestra Señora de Villasfrías
Activity
On the second Saturday of May, Villanueva del Condado and the municipal capital bring out their pendones and pendonetas, traditional costumes, dulzaina players and aluches wrestlers, and compete amicably to see who cooks the best frejolada.
Vegas recorded as Vaica de Porma
Historical milestone
The earliest documented form of the place name is Vaica de Porma; in 943 it appears as Beica de Porma and in 1188 already simply as Vegas. The suffix del Condado was added because of the lordship of the Núñez de Guzmán family.
Frejolada of Villasfrías
Food and drink
A bean stew with products of the pig slaughter that is eaten at the pilgrimage festival on the second Saturday of May. There is a declared rivalry between Villanueva del Condado and Vegas over which of the two cooks it better.
Trout of the Curueño and the Porma
Food and drink
Madoz already noted trout fishing among the products of the municipal district, alongside grain, pulses, flax, potatoes and vegetables. River fish remains the dish most identified with these valleys.