Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Herrera de Pisuerga

What to see and do in Herrera de Pisuerga (La Ojeda, Palencia): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

Towns near Herrera de Pisuerga

Spain › Castile and León › Palencia › La Ojeda › Herrera de Pisuerga

What to see and do in Herrera de Pisuerga

Herrera de Pisuerga
Village
Herrera de Pisuerga is a town of about 1,875 inhabitants in the Boedo-Ojeda area, at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Burejo rivers, at 844 metres above sea level. It stands on the Pisoraca archaeological site, a camp of the Legio IV Macedonica during the 1st century AD, and is a stop on the Camino de Santiago del Norte along the Ruta del Besaya. It received city status in 1902. It lives off the sausage industry, especially morcilla, as well as canning, salt-curing and bean growing. On the first weekend of August it celebrates its Crayfish Festival, in memory of the native crayfish that crayfish plague eventually wiped out from its banks.
Baroque bridge of San Francisco
Monument
A stone bridge of Baroque design that crosses the Pisuerga at Herrera, one of the historic crossings on the road towards Cantabria and a key piece of the group of bridges that this river town brings together.
Pisoraca and the Legio IIII Macedonica
Historical milestone
Herrera occupies the site of ancient Pisoraca, where the Legio IIII Macedonica was quartered during the first century; excavations have brought to light remains of the legionary camp beneath the urban centre.
Visigothic necropolis of Herrera
Nature
A Visigothic necropolis was found in the municipal district whose grave goods, of exceptional quality, are today kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, far from the village that saw them buried.
Confluence of the Pisuerga and the Burejo
Nature
The town sits at 844 metres above sea level just where the river Burejo delivers its waters to the Pisuerga; the meeting of both channels with the Canal de Castilla creates a mosaic of riverbanks in the middle of the moorland.
Crayfish Festival
Activity
Every August Herrera devotes its main festival days to the native river crayfish that made its waters famous, a celebration that is maintained despite the collapse of the populations from crayfish plague.
River Crayfish Interpretation Centre
Monument
An educational space devoted to the native crayfish, its biology and the fungus that decimated it, complemented in the town by an aviary and by the emblazoned houses scattered around the old quarter.
Morcillas and cured meats of Herrera
Food and drink
The town maintains a notable cured-meat industry centred on blood sausage, to which are added preserved vegetables and pulses; it is one of the best-known sausage-making centres in the north of the province.
Crayfish in the cuisine of the Pisuerga
Food and drink
River crayfish stews, with tomato and chilli, were for decades the identity dish of Herrera and are still served in August despite the native species having been reduced to isolated populations.