The Sunken Village of Fayón and the Road to Nowhere

In the heart of northern Spain, on the shores of the mighty Ebro river, sit two of the most fascinating sights I have ever seen. The first is the sunken village of Fayón and the second is, what I fondly refer to as, the ‘Road to Nowhere’. I had the privilege to discover both while adventure rowing down the Ebro last spring.

The Sunken Village of Fayón

My fellow rowers and I had made our way downriver from Mequinenza. And about an hour and a half into our row we came upon the most intriguing sight. It was the top half of a bell tower sitting in the river, several metres off-shore. This was the sunken village of Fayón. This fascinating landmark was created as a result of the construction of a hydro-electric damn back in the 1960s. It was fascinating to row up to it and realize that this was the uppermost point of a once bustling town. And it was even more fascinating to ponder the fact that the remains of an entire village lay below us.

Historical Fayón

I got a glimpse of what that village had once looked like later that evening. For, as I entered a restaurant for dinner, an historical photograph of this landmark greeted me. I was most taken by the charm of the original village as well as how narrow and shallow the river had been before the flooding. And the villagers must have loved it too because they did not leave willingly. In fact, soldiers had to march them out of town at gunpoint, so resistant were they to moving.

La Mirador del Ebro

A new village several kilometres inland became their new home. We took the opportunity to drive through it the next day and I have to say that it was nothing remarkable. Very much a sterile, planned town made up of cookie cutter houses, it certainly didn’t hold any appeal for me. I could understand why the villagers had not wanted to move. Especially when we drove up to La Mirador del Ebro Chapel that now overlooks the old sunken town. As lovely as it was, as I looked over the cultivated fields behind me, the though occurred to me that the villagers would not only have had to give up their ancestral home, they would also likely have given up their livelihoods. For I imagine that they would have been forced to transform from a fishing community to an agrarian one.

A Road to Nowhere

After a brief rest, we continued on towards Port Massaluca Camping, our home for the next two days. And as we approached the docks of the campground, we caught sight of another highlight of the day. I like to think of it as the ‘Road to Nowhere’. In fact, it is the remnant of a railway bridge that was destroyed in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War. All that remains today is the arched entrance to the tunnel that ran through the stone hillside. This site was also represented in the historical photos mounted in the restaurant. And this one gives the full scope of the two. What a fascinating transformation!