Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Ucero

What to see and do in Ucero (Tierras del Burgo, Soria): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 3 Nature · 1 Activities

How far each place is from the centre of Ucero

The source of the Ucero at la Galiana 1.7 km
The Templar hermitage of San Bartolomé 4.1 km

Towns near Ucero

Spain › Castile and León › Soria › Tierras del Burgo › Ucero

What to see and do in Ucero

Ucero
Village
Ucero is a town in the province of Soria, situated at 964 metres above sea level on the road linking El Burgo de Osma with San Leonardo, and the natural gateway to the Cañón del Río Lobos nature park, which occupies 45% of its territory within the Natura 2000 network, together with the savin groves of the sierra de Cabrejas. In the 13th century, the lordship of Ucero belonged to Juan García de Ucero and later passed to his daughter Violante Sánchez de Castilla, illegitimate daughter of King Sancho IV, who disputed its possession with the bishop of Osma, who had bought it in 1302 and to whose see it belonged from then on. In the shadow of its medieval castle, beside which remain the ruins of the Romanesque hermitage of San Juan de Otero and that of la Virgen de la Villavieja, it now has 80 inhabitants.
The Cañón del Río Lobos Natural Park
Nature
The Cañón del Río Lobos Natural Park, declared by decree 115/1985 of the Junta of Castile and León, protects the gorge that the Lobos river has carved into the Upper Cretaceous limestone, on the border between the provinces of Soria and Burgos, among the municipalities of Ucero and Hontoria del Pinar, among others. It covers 10,202 hectares of karst terrain with abundant caves, sinkholes and swallow holes, formed both by the wearing action of the river itself and by the dissolution of the rock. Its vertical walls, caves and meanders make it one of the most visited river canyons in Castile and León.
The Templar hermitage of San Bartolomé
Monument
In the middle of the Cañón del Río Lobos, beside the river, within the natural park, stands this church built in the first quarter of the 13th century, when Romanesque was giving way to Gothic, a transition reflected in its architecture: a Latin-cross plan, a portal with six very pointed archivolts and two rose windows with tracery in the shape of a five-pointed lobed star, of clear Muslim influence. It was part of a monastic community of which only the chapel survives. Tradition links it to the Templars, although there is no specific evidence of this: the location of the commandery of San Juan de Otero was traditionally placed here by mistake, when in fact it corresponds to another nearby hill. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 7 May 2015.
The griffon vulture colony of the canyon
Nature
A hundred pairs of griffon vulture breed on the limestone cliffs, one of the most important colonies on the peninsula. They share the rock faces with the golden eagle, the Egyptian vulture, the peregrine falcon and the eagle owl.
The source of the Ucero at la Galiana
Nature
At the end of the canyon, beside the Galiana cave, a spring rises that gives origin to the río Ucero. In that same place the río Lobos dies, which for much of the year runs dry along the bottom of the gorge.
The castle of Ucero
Monument
A seigniorial castle with a triple enclosure, an artillery barrier and remains of the moat that was crossed by a drawbridge, raised on a rocky promontory on the banks of the Ucero river, near its source, from where it dominates the valleys of the Lobos and Chico rivers and a good part of the Río Lobos canyon. The keep preserves gargoyles and a twin window; it is declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection). It stands on the remains of a Celtiberian hillfort and a Visigothic necropolis, and its construction, from the 12th century, bears a resemblance to that of the castle of Miranda del Castañar. It had a strong link with the Templars, and Juan González de Ucero, who fought in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa alongside Alfonso VIII, was proclaimed in 1212 the first lord of the town and castle.
The canyon route to San Bartolomé
Activity
The park's classic itinerary runs along the bottom of the gorge from the Puente de los Siete Ojos to the hermitage, among rock walls, junipers and pools. It is a flat, long path, much walked in spring and autumn.