Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
IT sits in an eagle’s nest high above Tarragona’s famous Priorat wine region.
An enviable escape from the world for around 30 locals, Siurana was the last Moorish stronghold in the region to fall to the marauding Catholic armies in 1153.
And since then it has pretty much been cut off from the world, with poor wifi, no school or shops and hardly anywhere to eat or sleep.
And that’s how the majority of the 100 or so locals want it to stay. At least according to the mayor, who decided to reject an offer to join Spain’s most prestigious list of stunning villages.
According to Salvador Salvado it is ‘impossible’ to have more tourists visiting.
He added there was already a ‘problem’ with visitors and more would simply dilute the quality.
It means only one village has officially joined Spain’s list of Los Pueblos Mas Bonitos de Espana this year.
While 22 applied, only Puentedey, in Burgos, met the strict criteria to join the association, which was set up in 2011.
There are now 105 villages in the group, all of which must be under 15,000 in population and have a perfectly preserved historic core, as well as an ‘architectural or natural heritage’.
Last year, 11 more villages joined, including Genalguacil, in Malaga, Banos de la Encina, in Jaen, Roncal in Navarra and Valverde de la Vera, in Caceres.
The potential rewards for the villages are huge, with the promotion they get globally from being members and the huge growth in tourism it brings.
Rejection
“We have never had such a rejection,” the president of the association, Francisco Maestre, told El Pais.
“Being on the list means a significant increase in tourism and is not about harming the village.”
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