Route code
CCL- RAB-008
Journey
Circular
Way
  • By bike (5 h.)
Length
57.6 kms.
Ascent slope
840 m.
Difficulty of the route
Medium

The Los Castros Route runs through the municipality of Rabanales and several of its districts, Grisuela, Ufones and Matellanes, towns that still retain the hallmarks of the Aliste region.

The route runs through oak groves, meadows and crop fields, alternating sections of moderate slopes, and encountering traditional flour mills along the courses of the Mena and Cebal rivers .

Rabanales has an urban center that preserves examples of the traditional stone architecture of the Aliste region. Its main building is the parish church of El Salvador , built during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, and its chapel is largely made with Roman materials, such as granite ashlars and sepulchral steles. Next to this building is a phallus , a Roman symbol of fertility. It also has the "Mycological Species Interpretation Center" , an example of the notable mycological tradition of its inhabitants, and the origin of the existence of several companies dedicated to the preparation of preserved mushrooms and other wild products from the area.

According to research, Rabanales could have been the capital of the Zoelas , therefore being the possible location of Curunda Caesara . Furthermore, it could have been a notable reference for the southern variant - after the fork in Figueruela de Arriba - of Vía XVII of the Antonino Itinerary , the Roman road that connected Braga and Astorga.

From its past, the existence, still perceptible, of the four forts that are in its area stands out. Of them there are three protohistoric ones: that of " San Juan" , that of " Gallinera" and that of " La Luisa". There is also " El Castrico", which is the one that has provided the most archaeological remains and which houses a Roman necropolis, its previous chronology still pending to be determined.

There are numerous vestiges of Roman chronology that have been found in this town. Among them, an inscription dedicated to Emperor Caesar Augustus stands out, with a bust of him existing in the Plaza Mayor of Rabanales.

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