Puente del Paco (Paco Bridge) across the Aguas Limpias river in Sallent de Gállego, Huesca (Spain)

 ¡Qué milagrosa es la naturaleza!

pues, ¿no da luz la nieve? inmaculada

y misteriosa, trémula y callada,

paréceme que mudamente reza

al caer... ¡Oh nevada!:

tu ingrávida y glacial eucaristía

hoy del pecado de vivir me absuelva

y haga que, como tú, mi alma se vuelva

fúlgida, blanca, silenciosa y fría.

Jaculatoria a la nieve

poem by Amado Nervo

Bridge in a model of the Army Miniatures Museum in Jaca, Huesca (Spain)

“Soldiers do not fight because they hate what is in front of them. They fight because they love what is behind them.”

G.K. Chesterton

Romanesque Bridge over the Ara River in San Nicolás de Bujaruelo, Huesca (Spain)

The mountain seems no more a soulless thing,

But rather as a shape of ancient fear,

In darkness and the winds of Chaos born

Amid the lordless heavens’ thundering–

A Presence crouched, enormous and austere,

Before whose feet the mighty waters mourn.

In a poem by George Sterling

San Miguel Bridge crossing the Aragón River in Jaca, Huesca (Spain)

Nieve donde el caballo que impone sus pisadas

es una soledad de galopante luto.

Nieve de uñas cernidas, de garras derribadas,

de celeste maldad, de desprecio absoluto.

Muerde, tala, traspasa como un tremendo hachazo,

con un hacha de mármol encarnizado y leve.

Desciende, se derrama como un deshecho abrazo

de precipicios y alas, de soledad y nieve.

From El soldado y la nieve

Miguel Hernández

Romanesque bridge over the River Ara in San Nicolás de Bujaruelo, Huesca (Spain)

" ... in solitude, on these peaks that are the true ends of the Earth , the observer, inspired by the grandeur of the landscape and the silence of nature, contemplates on its head the vastness of space, and at his feet the depth of time "

Louis Ramond de Carbonnieres,

first mountaineer in Pyrenees, 1802

Paco Bridge over the river Aguas Limpias in Sallent de Gállego, Huesca (Spain)

Al entrar en España, va cayendo la tarde...
En los picos, el sol se eleva eternamente.
—El mundo se abre—. Y los techos de pizarra
se quedan en el foro de los pueblos franceses.
   La torre de Sallent repica allá en el fondo.
—Es domingo—. La brisa juega en las peñas verdes
El ocaso es más puro cada vez. Huele el sur
más.  Es más claro el ondear de las mieses.
   Por los prados con flor, en una paz de idilio,
mujen, echadas, mansas vacas rosas de leche.
El habla del zagal nos toca el corazón.
La patria va alejando, maternal, a la muerte...
   Ventura, soledad, silencio. Las esquilas
llenan, cual las estrellas el cielo, el campo alegre.
Silencio, soledad, ventura.  El agua, en todo,
canta entre el descendente reír de los cascabeles...

Pirineos
Juan Ramón Jiménez

Bridge over the Isábena River in Obarra, Huesca (Spain)

In Espés there was once a tyrant and conceited Baron, named Bernardo. He had enslaved his servants and craved a young novice of the monastery of Obarra. He soon started sending gifts to the monastery so that the young lady was given to him as a wife. Both monks and vassals were fed up with his attitudes because he did not respect the most sacred things, and made common cause to end it. One day, Baron went as usual to hunt the mountain. Turbón a witch came to warn him. "Baron d'Espés, Baron d'Espés si a Obarra ba, a Espés no i tornarás més." (If you go to Obarra you would not come back to Espés). Careless he kept his way but when inside the canyon, from above the villagers threw stones, and in the valley, the monks let go rabid dogs mastiffs. The next day they found the baron Espés, three dogs dead and dismembered by his side.

Legend of Obarra

Puente de Abajo (Lower Bridge) spanning the Esera River in Graus, Huesca (Spain)

The one-eyed giant Ome Granizo, tending his flock near the river Esera, showing hospitality to the few people who came there in order to devour them later. It is said that a boy, who was invited to spend the night in his cave, managed to hurt him in one eye stabbing one rusty iron. Blind, so that the boy did not escape, the giant threw a magic ring that was carrying. The boy fell into the trap and took the ring, but when hi wore it on his finger, the ring began singing, finding it impossible to remove it. Before being caught by the giant following the singing of the ring, he cut his finger and put the ring threw him into the river Esera where Ome Granizo drowned in pursuit.

Legend of the Esera River

San Urbez Bridge over the Bellós River in Escalona, Huesca (Spain)

Legend tells that Saint Úrbez, fleeing from France, ran into the barrel of Añisclo. Since there was no way to cross it, he extended his staff between the two walls and joined them, creating a bridge. Thus, he could reach the cave that is now a chapel dedicated to him and located just before the bridge .

Legend of Añisclo

Los Navarros Bridge over the Ara River in the Ordesa National Park, Huesca (Spain)

When Herakles or Hercules, son of the goddess Hera, lit a gigantic pyre to ritually burn the body of the deceased nymph Pyrene, stones unraveled and liquified, and from the mountains became rivers of gold. Thereafter, the rivers of the Pyrenees were trodden in various stages of history by searchers convinced that its banks could find the rich metal.

Legend of the Pyrenees

Bridge spanning the Cinca River in Aínsa, Huesca (Spain)

Desde los altos riscos
el agua se despeña
y de roca en roca brinca,
sinfonía de sonidos
que al alma ensueña
mientras nace el río Cinca

José García Velázquez

Moscarales Bridge over the Ara River in Boltaña, Huesca (Spain)

Perdido debajo del Monte Perdido
perdido estuviste país.
mi viejo Condado, señor de los montes
te estabas dejando morir.
Perdido el orgullo, perdido el futuro
perdido, perdido país.

País de silencios de ausencias y olvidos
tristes montes y soledad.
País sin historia, pueblo sin raíces,
carrasca que se secara:
sobrabas país, solo querían agua,
montañas y electricidad.

El País Perdido

Song by Ronda de Boltaña

Moscarales Bridge over the Ara River in Boltaña, Huesca (Spain)

Tienes nombre de río, pequeña nación
agua del Pirineo que al mar no llegó.
Encontraste tu lugar , una tierra a la que amar
y has llegado a olvidarte del mar.

Somos un pueblo de agua en un seco país;
abrazados a un río queremos vivir.
No veremos nunca el mar, como no echemos a andar.
¡Vamos juntos, que se oye trona.

Text in a song by La Ronda de Boltaña

Bridge over the moat of La Ciudadela (the Citadel) in Jaca, Huesca (Spain)

" ...to build a fortress to hold the city, that could be defended by 40 or 50 soldiers "

King Felipe II

origin of La Ciudadela

San Miguel Bridge over the Aragón River in Jaca, Huesca (Spain)

En Jaca nació Aragón
con Sobrarbe y Ribagorza
allí nacionon las tres
Teruel, Huesca y Zaragoza.

Traditional song

San Miguel Bridge over the Aragón River in Jaca, Huesca (Spain)

In a cave on the slopes of Peña Oroel lived a Dragon that frightened the whole valley. One day, a Jacean knight who was imprisoned for defending the local witches proposed his release in exchange for killing the dragon. This gentleman, thanks to his friendship with the witches, knew that the dragons had a secret: they were able to hypnotize their victims with their eyes. Thus, he polished his shield into a mirror and set out to visit the dragon cave when it was asleep. When waking up, the dragon was reflected in the shield and was mesmerized by his own gaze. The knight took advantage of the situation to stick the sword in his heart and take him down.

Legend of Jaca

Bridge of Pilgrims over the Aragón River in Canfranc, Huesca (Spain)

Es la piedra y el reino de la piedra
lo que sobre los hombres permanece –de niño
escondí en esta tierra mi inocencia- después

de que la lluvia haya cesado. Aquí,
el águila no importa,

no importa la víbora ni el sarrio.

Sólo la roca aupada contra un cielo azulado

es lo que importa.

Beginning of the poem Canfranc

José Antonio Labordeta

Railway Bridge over the La Peña Reservoir in Santa María de la Peña, Huesca (Spain)

Déjame, Muerte, que llore
pues los padres trabajaron
unos campos de Aragón,
hoy, eriales solitarios;
déjame que los recuerde
y espere verlos un año,
campos fragantes de lluvia,
trigo, cebada y cilantro,
una tierra que fue cielo,
y hoy, paraíso olvidado,
nada más que un dios sin fieles
al que nadie va a adorarlo.

Poem by José Luis Gracia Mosteo

Bridge of Pilgrims over the Aragón River in Canfranc, Huesca (Spain)

Preguntad por el río,
la nieve, por el hielo. Preguntad
por la vida -yo la cogí por estos precipicios-
y nadie sabrá que responderos.

Es tan sólo la roca, lo repito,
lo que señala el valle y la vaguada.

El pueblo, monótono, se aburre,
se emborracha. No existe el horizonte. La roca,
esa mano de Dios petrificada, es la única señal
que al hombre aguarda.

Ending of the poem Canfranc

José Antonio Labordeta