Village
Espot is a village of Pallars Sobirà, in the valley of the same name, east of the Noguera Pallaresa river, and one of the gateways to the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici national park; within its municipal boundary rises the Encantats massif. Already mentioned in documents from the year 839, it belonged from the late 15th century to the Dukes of Cardona and the Marquises of Pallars. It has 377 inhabitants, and its economy today revolves around tourism, with the Espot Esquí ski resort and growing rural tourism. The parish church, dedicated to Santa Leocadia, is a small single-nave building with a square bell tower; remains of the Torre dels Moros, an old circular defence tower, also survive.
Monument
12th-13th-century watchtower, circular in plan (7.3 m in diameter, 8.7 m at the lower batter) that preserves 13.5 m of height, with a door at 5.5 m facing east, a round arch, and up to nine defensive arrow slits. Although the Espot valley has a documented lordship since 1066, the tower does not appear in any written record; it is believed to have been dependent on the nearby castle of Llort. A Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's top heritage-protection category).
Monument
Circular tower of unworked slate rubble masonry on an elevated rocky base, of which today only the walls survive up to the height of one floor. It was part of the defensive network protecting the southern entrance to the Vall d'Àneu, probably subsidiary to the castle of Llort, in communication with the castell d'Escaló and a tower at Burgo, watching over the passage of the Noguera Pallaresa. A Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's top heritage-protection category) (BCIN 832-MH).
Monument
Castle documented since around 950 ("castro de Leort" around 1079), of vernacular architecture, on a rocky hill that came to cover more than 2,500 m². It formed part of the defensive line at the entrance to the Vall d'Àneu; it passed from the counts of Pallars to the crown as a punishment, was disputed in the 1294 invasion, and in 1349 was granted to the Comenge family. Today a fairly intact tower survives, along with remains of what may have been the main residence. A Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's top heritage-protection category).
Nature
Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, created in 1955 in the Lleida Pyrenees, is the only one declared a national park in Catalonia. It is spread across the comarcas of Pallars Sobirà, Pallars Jussà, Alta Ribagorça and Val d'Aran, with Espot and the Vall de Boí as its main gateways. It has two sides: the eastern, with a continental climate, watered by tributaries of the Noguera Pallaresa that feed the Estany de Sant Maurici, at the foot of the Encantats; and the western, with a high-mountain Atlantic climate, fed by the tributaries of the Noguera Ribagorçana. With close to two hundred lakes of glacial origin and peaks over 3,000 metres, it receives more than 500,000 visitors a year.
Activity
Festa Major of Espot, gateway to the Aigüestortes National Park.
Nature
The eastern side of the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, in Pallars Sobirà, extends along the valley of the Escrita river to the lake of Sant Maurici, surrounded by peaks such as the Besiberri massif and the cirques of Colomers and Saboredo. The park, the fifth to be declared in Spain, in 1955, protects around 220 species of vertebrates —among them the capercaillie, the golden eagle, the bearded vulture and the Pyrenean chamois— and has close to eighty lakes of glacial origin. From Espot it is possible to reach the plain of Aigüestortes and the lake of Sant Maurici by off-road taxi, where the Ernest Mallafré refuge is found, the usual starting point for excursions in this area of the park.
Nature
Group of high-mountain lakes near Espot, inside the Aigüestortes National Park.
Historical milestone
On 21 October 1955 the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park was declared, the second in the Pyrenees after Ordesa and the only one in Catalonia, spread across the comarques of l'Alta Ribagorça, Pallars Sobirà —where Espot is located, one of its gateways—, the Vall d'Aran and Pallars Jussà. With 41,852 hectares it is today the third-largest protected area in Catalonia and the fifth national park in Spain; its rugged relief, with U-shaped valleys, glacial cirques and lakes, is the legacy of the erosion of the Quaternary glaciers. The declaration halted new hydroelectric developments in valleys that had already been heavily transformed. It is home to threatened species such as the bearded vulture and the capercaillie, and is visited every year by several hundred thousand people.