Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

The Bards

Bardea forms an extraordinary landscape in the Basque Country... there are no similar places around us. His appearance evokes the moon... and also the classic locations of the cowboy movies. Desert, arid land, without plants... Bardea is a solitary territory... that's why the ancient bandits went to it to hide. It is said that the famous thief Santxikorrota lived there. The legend says that his horses had their horseshoes nailed backwards so that no one could follow them.

There are no more bandits living in this land... in reality, there is no urban center in the 42,000 hectares of Bardenas. The only community that lives in the center of this place is the military of the shooting range. Their presence is easily noticed, as the buzzing noise of fighters and manoeuvres spreads to all corners of this silent territory. However, Bardea Natura has been a protected park and biosphere reserve since 2000.

Although the military presence is great, the landscape of the Bardenas is a magical place, it remains very attractive. Surely the whitish color of the earth and the strange formations that stand out in the middle of the plain have something to do with this magic.

The relief of the Bardenas owes its rarity to the quality of the materials of the soil and to the erosion that both water and the Ciercian wind have generated. The soil is composed of clay, limestone, sandstone and gypsum, but of all of them, clay predominates. Clay is a soft and impermeable material, so when it rains, water hardly penetrates the soil and therefore the effect of erosion is greater. In addition, there is very little precipitation in the Bardenas and, in everything, there are torrential rains. Therefore, they generate even greater wear. One of the signs of water erosion are the reliefs known as the "elephant foot". They are generated when the rainwater is greater than the infiltration capacity of the earth, in which case the rainwater slides on the surface of the earth and creates this particular relief.

The best way to discover this picturesque landscape is to walk or ride a bike, but in summer it is necessary to be very careful with the temperature... it can reach 45 degrees.