CATALONIA, SPAIN
The Parc National d’Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici has an epic name and correspondingly epic scenery, with granite peaks, glacial lakes, and cool forests of fr and pine that offer respite from the blazing sun. Long summer days make this the perfect time to hike the many trails in Catalonia’s only national park – even the 15-mile Espot-Boi is possible in a single day. Striking out from the village of Espot, trekkers pass tumbledown farmhouses and humpbacked stone bridges, soon fnding themselves among the highest peaks in the Pyrenees. The trail ends in the Boi Valley, home to Romanesque churches whose shadowy interiors are decorated with colourful frescoes. Alternatively, rest weary limbs in one of the many mountain huts that line the route, falling asleep to the rushing of the highland streams that give the park its name – ‘aiguestortes’ (twisted waters).