Ampudia, a hidden gem in Tierra de Campos

Borges observed that in the land of Spain there are few things, but that "each one seems to exist in a substantive and eternal way."

Such is the impression that the traveler has when, after crossing one of those infinitely empty plains of the Tierra de Campos region, he comes across Ampudia, beautiful and unfading like a diamond, which has hardly changed since it was called Fons Púdica, for a fountain that was modestly hidden among some brambles.

Others say that she was not Púdica, but Pútrida, because she smelled like rotten eggs.

Today the town, recently admitted to the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain Association, smells of roast lamb, must bread, mantecados and other delicious things.

Before smelling Ampudia, you can see its castle from afar on a hillock that, in these plains, is a true Everest from which you can see, more than 100 kilometers away, the Palentina Mountain.

This beautiful 15th century fortress, which was property of the Duke of Lerma and a vacation spot for Philip III, was in ruins when the cookie businessman Eugenio Fontaneda bought it in 1960, who restored it and filled it with curiosities: the skin of an anaconda , a ring-gun, a tiger skull, another of a witch locked in a cage... In addition to a thousand

kitsch

objects , it treasures valuable antiquities, such as the

Tessera hospitalis,

by Herrera de Pisuerga: a passport from the year 14 engraved on a sheet of bronze in the shape of a wild boar.

More information

These are the five new Most Beautiful Towns in Spain of 2024

At the foot of the castle the town is crowded, whose heart is the Plaza Vieja, where there has been a free market every Thursday since 1606. From there, like arteries, the main streets, Corredera and Ontiveros, both with two-story half-timbered houses start. wood and adobe and arcades supported by 256 posts, 41 of stone and the rest of black (that is, elm).

The first leads to the old convent of San Francisco, today the modern Museum of Sacred Art, and to the neighboring collegiate church of San Miguel, whose 63-meter tower is the tallest and most attractive thing in Ampudia, after the castle.

“La Giralda de Campos”, they call it.

Its interior houses the recumbent tomb of Pedro García de Herrera and María de Ayala, the first lords of Ampudia, from the end of the 15th century.

And the baroque organ from 1779. It is played on Sundays by Nacho Izquierdo, chronicler of the town and wise geographer.

A real character, learned and friendly.

The other main street, Ontiveros, leads to the old Santa María de la Clemencia hospital, which houses the tourist office, an exhibition of photos from a century ago and the Museum of Medicine.

The photos were taken by Álvaro de Castro Cea (1907-1950) and Álvaro de Castro del Bosque (1945-1973), father and son, who with their antediluvian cameras portrayed several generations of Ampudians: rondallas, newlyweds, babies, large families and school groups, when 300 children went to school and not like today, when only 16 go. The museum brings together more than 200 pieces that various doctors and hospitals have donated to the Palencia College of Physicians: a consultation room and an operating room from the past, a primitive

The tower of the collegiate church of San Miguel, in the town of Ampudia (Palencia). Andrés Campos

Venerate the patron saint

Three kilometers from Ampudia is the sanctuary of Our Lady of Alconada, where the town's patron saint is venerated.

Or a copy of it, because the original, Romanesque, is kept safe in the Museum of Sacred Art.

Two adorable nuns, Mónica and Rosario, keep the baroque temple—which is small—immaculate, show it to visitors, and make natural soaps, muffins, and San Benito rolls.

As the Virgin of Alconada is also the patron saint of Tierra de Campos, her pilgrimage on September 8 brings together thousands of people, many more than the 600 that make up the census of Ampudia and its seven districts.

It is a good idea to eat outdoors in the meadow that surrounds the sanctuary with the loaves and sweets made by two local bakeries and sold at Pan de Ampudia, on Nueva Street.

Picones are typical, but sweeter and more tender are the bath mantecados (“slippers,” they call them).

If the day is not for picnics, it is better to eat indoors at El Olivo.

The low-temperature lamb, the tripe and the Saturday stew are outstanding.

Another recommendable restaurant is the one at the La Casa del Abad hotel, a 17th century mansion where the abbot of the San Miguel collegiate church lived so luxuriously.

You sleep well here too.

The next day—doing it all in a single day is complicated—we will go to the district of Valoria del Alcor, less than three kilometers from Ampudia, to see the Romanesque church of San Fructuoso.

You should also see, although it is further away (21 kilometers), the Nava lagoon.

Although it is a small remnant of what was the old Mar de Campos - 300 of the 2,500 hectares that it occupied before it was drained in 1968 to kill mosquitoes and cultivate crops - the lagoon is home to 221 species of birds, which represent 41 % of those that can be seen in Spain, including the islands.

It is an area of ​​international importance for the greylag goose, with concentrations of up to 10,000 individuals.

From October to March, it is home to huge numbers of ducks, sometimes exceeding 20,000.

The spring migration - from February to May - is also a good opportunity to visit, since then you can see more than 40 species of waders (plovers, redshanks, godwits, sandpipers...) in the slightly waterlogged meadows.

Bird watching is complemented by the information offered at the modern visitor center, which is located in a 17th century manor house in the nearby town of Fuentes de Nava.

In the last aquatic census, a total of 367 marsh harriers have been observed.

It is the highest number recorded so far in the #lagunadelanava.

Historical record in the #wetland!

@naturalezacyl #Cyl #Palencia #birds #tourism #nature pic.twitter.com/8nrANMzDAT

— Laguna de la Nava (@lagunadelanava) December 16, 2023

Only a blind man could say that in the land of Spain there are few things.

Subscribe here to the

El Viajero newsletter

and find inspiration for your next trips on our

Facebook

,

X

and

Instagram accounts

.