Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Riofrío de Aliste

What to see and do in Riofrío de Aliste (Aliste, Zamora): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

Towns near Riofrío de Aliste

Spain › Castile and León › Zamora › Aliste › Riofrío de Aliste

What to see and do in Riofrío de Aliste

Riofrío de Aliste
Village
Riofrío de Aliste is a municipality in Zamora province, formerly known as Riofrío de Tábara, made up of four hamlets —Riofrío de Aliste, Sarracín de Aliste, Cabañas de Aliste and Abejera— set on the southern slope of the sierra de la Culebra, whose quartzite summits, such as Peña Fragosa or Peña del Cuervo, rise above 1,100 metres amid holm-oak woods, oak groves and reforestation pinewoods. It has 589 inhabitants and is famous for its winter mask festivals, the Carochos, held every 1 January and declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Regional de Castilla y León (an official tourism recognition granted by the autonomous community). In this landscape, shaped by humans since ancient times, it preserves hillforts and mines of Roman origin between Cabañas and Sarracín, houses with a courtyard and a large wooden gateway, and a notable slate quarry.
The Carochos of 1 January
Activity
The New Year masquerade, declared a festival of regional tourist interest of Castilla y León, brings out eleven characters — devils, gallants and blind men — who go singing through the houses of the village one by one.
The seventeen mills of the municipality
Curiosity
The municipality preserves seventeen historic flour mills and a fulling mill, as well as forges, dovecotes, stone-walled enclosures, yards and bridges that draw the architecture of water in the heart of Aliste.
The wolf of Riofrío
Nature
The municipal district contributes 5,658 hectares to the regional hunting reserve of the Sierra de la Culebra, created in 1973 over 65,891 hectares, and hosts one of the greatest concentrations of Iberian wolf in Spain.
The summits of Piñedo and Peña del Cuervo
Nature
Piñedo, at 1,209 metres, Peña del Cuervo, at 1,194, and Peña Fragosa, at 1,183, crown a municipal district of holm oak, cork oak, strawberry tree, rockrose and heather included in the Natura 2000 Network as a site of Community importance.
The fire of the parish church
Historical milestone
The parish church burned down on the day of the Assumption of 1969 and a modern church had to be raised in its place; the municipality had changed its name in 1916, when it ceased to be called Riofrío de Tábara.
The stone houses with arcades
Curiosity
The traditional dwelling of Aliste is raised in stone, with an arcade onto the street and two storeys: the kitchen on the ground floor and the sobrao above, where the grain and the products of the winter pig slaughter were kept.