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What to see and do in Camarzana de Tera

What to see and do in Camarzana de Tera (Benavente y Los Valles, Zamora): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

Towns near Camarzana de Tera

Spain › Castile and León › Zamora › Benavente y Los Valles › Camarzana de Tera

What to see and do in Camarzana de Tera

Camarzana de Tera
Village
Camarzana de Tera is a town of 740 inhabitants in the comarca of Benavente y Los Valles, beside the valley of the river Tera, and includes, besides the town itself, the settlements of Cabañas de Tera, San Juanico el Nuevo and Santa Marta de Tera. It preserves adobe and rammed-earth houses with wooden balconies; in 2007 excavations brought to light the mosaics of the Roman villa of Orpheus, now open to guided visits in the village itself. Its oldest remains, from the Iron Age, were found on the hill called El Castro, with foundations of circular pallozas similar to other hillforts in Zamora; in its shelter the Roman villa later arose. The village stands at 731 metres beside that hill, among holm-oak woods and a riverside forest of alders and ash trees where songbirds abound.
The mosaics of the villa of Orpheus
Monument
The Roman villa of Orpheus, in the centre of Camarzana de Tera, is a late Roman site from the 2nd to the 4th centuries, with fifteen rooms arranged around a porticoed courtyard or peristyle. In one of its rooms, possibly a triclinium, a mosaic depicts Orpheus surrounded by animals, with eight labelled panels of named horses and hunting scenes; in another, the oecus where guests were received, the mosaic of the abduction of Europa unfolds, framed by a border of marine figures, while the rest of the rooms show geometric mosaics. Known since the 19th century from finds made during road construction, it was excavated from 2007, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 2010, and turned into a museum site in 2018; it is open daily with a guide, with extended hours in summer.
Emeterius and the Beatus of Girona
Historical milestone
The Monasterio de San Miguel, in Camarzana de Tera, had its own scriptorium, from which came the monk Emeterio, who contributed to the Beato de Gerona (975), one of the most celebrated illuminated codices of Leonese Mozarabic art.
The bread, cheese and wine of Trinity Sunday
Food and drink
At the end of May or the beginning of June the festivity of the Trinity shares out bread, cheese and wine among the residents; the local recipe book adds roast pork liver, cuscarones and chorizo from the pig slaughter.
The Tera and its river beach
Nature
One kilometre from the village the river Tera opens a river beach among alders and ash trees; the oak woods of the municipal district yield rabbits, hares and roe deer, and its banks host migratory waterbirds.