Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in les Borges Blanques

What to see and do in les Borges Blanques (Garrigues, Lleida): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 2 Activities · 2 Historical milestones

When to go to les Borges Blanques: festival calendar

January: Fair of l'Oli d'Oliva Verge Extra de les Borges Blanques (January 16-18)
September: Les Borges Blanques Main Festival (early September)

How far each place is from the centre of les Borges Blanques

Castle of les Borges Blanques 400 m

Towns near les Borges Blanques

What to see in Puiggròs 4.1 km · 3 places
What to see in la Floresta 4.5 km · 3 places
What to see in Juneda 4.9 km · 7 places
What to see in Arbeca 5.2 km · 7 places
What to see in Torregrossa 7.6 km · 9 places
What to see in els Omellons 7.9 km · 2 places
What to see in Castelldans 8.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Miralcamp 9.7 km · 4 places

Spain › Catalonia › Lleida › Garrigues › les Borges Blanques

What to see and do in les Borges Blanques

Les Borges Blanques
Village
Les Borges Blanques is the comarcal capital of Les Garrigues, in Lleida, situated between the lands irrigated by the Canal d'Urgell and the central Catalan depression, with 6,482 inhabitants largely engaged in growing olives, almonds, cereals and fruit trees. It is home to the Fira de l'Oli and is the Catalan capital of olive oil, whose arbequina variety was exported, in the mid-20th century, almost entirely to Italy. At the prehistoric sanctuary of les Roques Guàrdies II, discovered in 1985, cave paintings of Neolithic schematic art are preserved, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1998. Notable features of the village include the paseo del Terrall, with an old oil press, and the old palace of the marquis of Olivar, today the seat of the town hall.
Castle of les Borges Blanques
Monument
Of the castle of Les Borges Blanques, probably of Andalusi origin and dated to the 13th century, only the site is known today: two parallel streets running east-west, Castell Amunt and Castell Avall, frame the space where the old fortification once stood, now occupied by houses. The fortress reached its peak with the Sanaüja family, and as Lleida became integrated into Christian territory it lost importance until it was abandoned in the 15th century; at the end of the 18th century its stones were reused to build a new building on the same site.
Fair of l'Oli d'Oliva Verge Extra de les Borges Blanques
Activity
A large Catalan olive-oil fair, with more than fifty exhibitors and tastings of varieties such as arbequina, verdal and farga. It is held in les Borges Blanques on the weekend closest to the feast of Sant Antoni, with the participation of olive-oil cooperatives from les Garrigues and the rest of Catalonia.
Les Borges Blanques Main Festival
Activity
Festa Major of the capital of les Garrigues, celebrated on the first weekend of September; its Trobada de Gegants, Grallers i Correfocs was declared a festival of cultural interest.
Creation of the Garrigues comarca
Historical milestone
The territorial division of Catalonia of 1936 drew les Garrigues for the first time as an administrative unit, in force until 1939. The comarca was re-established in 1987, when the comarca organisation was recovered, with its capital in les Borges Blanques.
Francesc Macià, deputy for les Borges Blanques
Historical milestone
Francesc Macià, future president of the Generalitat, was elected deputy for the district of les Borges Blanques in 1907 and from then on maintained a close link with the comarca. The villa devotes to him the Espai Macià cultural centre.