Today I would like to talk to you about an abandoned village, in the north-west of Spain: Otero de Sariegos.
This abandoned village is situated in the province of Zamora.
Near this village, you can visit the Lagunas de Villafáfila Regional Reserve (a privileged place for the observation of wild birds).
Otero de Sariegos has lost the humanity that there was there, and has given way to the colonies of pigeons, which inhabit the many dovecotes, half-ruined, that you can find there.
The abandoned village of Otero de Sariegos is situated on the top of a small hill from which you can see cereal fields and adobe dovecotes in ruins and many others restored. Because of the proximity to the lagoons of Villafáfila, in the village salt was exploited, which was taken from the lagoons, hence the Sariegos name, derivation of saliegos. Until about 5 years ago, some neighbors were, in the village, who were gradually leaving their homes, being operating only one building and only twice a year --on April 25 and November 11, when the doors of the church of San Martín de Tours open its doors, to celebrate the festivities of San Marcos and San Martin--.
In the village there is no asphalt, it was lost with time and neglect, the streets are made of dirt and, as you can see, the facade of the church of San Martin de Tours presents an aspect of quite deterioration, especially its brick gable, where the bells are located; the only part, that is saved, is an annex, in the right part of the main facade to the church, that must be the sacristy; generally this building is the one that, in better conditions, you are going to find in the abandoned village of Otero de Sariegos.
After visiting the church of San Martin de Tours, you can explore some of the houses of the village and you will see many of them destroyed, others with the roof coming down and the vast majority have doors open; almost all houses are made of adobe and you will appreciate how there are entire walls fallen, while, in others, the adobe has been dissolved by the erosive action of water.
The most curious thing, that you can see, is how many things there are in the houses, in many of them, it was as if there had been a bombing and people had fled leaving everything behind, chairs, armchairs, pallets, shelves with few things of value, and even ancient electrical appliances you will see through the ruins of some of the houses of Otero de Sariegos.
You can walk around the village, which is small and you can see some other old dovecots, in ruins, some small circular buildings of adobe, with holes in its interior, so that the pigeons nest inside, taking advantage of these birds for human consumption and for obtaining the palomino --which is the feces of the pigeons, used as fertilizer--.
Well, I hope that you have liked this article and hope that you can go to this abandoned village; if you do it, please tell me as soon as possible.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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