Brañosera: what to see, where to stay and eat

Brañosera claims to be Spain's first town council: in 824 Count Munio Núñez granted it the earliest known settlement charter, and every 13 October the village celebrates the Día del Fuero. It sits at 1,211 m on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Híjar, inside the Montaña Palentina Natural Park and below the Valdecebollas massif, where the River Rubagón rises. Its old name, Brannia Ossaria, means 'land of mountain pastures and bears', and brown bears still roam these hills, as do capercaillie, among beech, oak, holly and yew woods. In the village, the church of Santa Eulalia keeps its Romanesque south wall and bell gable, and the little church of San Miguel, in the cemetery, has a consecration stone dated 1118. In Valberzoso you'll find a Roman bridge and the church of Santa María la Real, with Romanesque ashlar walls. Above the village, the road to El Golobar climbs higher than any other road in Castilla y León.