Spain is culture

Our route begins in Soria’s town centre, where Machado lived from 1907 to 1912. Here we can visit the secondary school where he taught, in which one of their classroom furniture and materials kept recalling the passage of the poet.one of the classrooms conserves furniture and material recalling the poet’s time there. We will also make a stop at the Círculo Amistad Numancia, a club that he visited for conversation. This centre has a Poets’ House-Museum devoted to Antonio Machado and to other renowned literary figures, like Gerardo Diego and Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.

In Plaza Mayor square we can see Santa María la Mayor Church, where the poet and his beloved Leonor Izquierdo were married in 1905. Also in the square, the façade of the Palacio de la Audiencia cultural centre displays the famous clock addressed by Machado in some of his poems. Finally, there is Santo Domingo Church, preferred by the couple for Sunday mass.

Another good way to follow in the footsteps of the poet is to go on the walk from their house on Paseo del Mirón Avenue to the Baroque building of the Mirón Shrine. He and Leonor were advised to take his regular walk by a doctor after Leonor contracted tuberculosis in 1911 (she died in Soria in 1912) . Next to El Espino Church, we can see the tree that inspired Machado’s famous poem, “To a dry elm tree”, and the cemetery where his wife lies.

Machado also used to go for long walks by the banks of the Duero River. One of his most regular walks, which is sure to be enjoyed by us, goes from the church of the old San Polo Monastery to San Saturio Shrine, where, in 1932, the city paid tribute to the poet with the inscription that we an read on a plaque. We will also visit the remains of San Juan de Duero Monastery, which was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1882 and is an emblem of the city of Soria.

Beyond the city of Soria
We can complete our “tribute-route” to the writer with a somewhat longer trip by car: the excursion made by the poet in September 1910, along with some friends, to visit the source of the Duero River. We will see the picturesque villages of Vinuesa, Salduero and Covaleda, which have some notable buildings (churches, manor houses, palaces).
While in this area (a few kilometres from Vinuesa), we should not miss seeing the Cuerda del Pozo Reservoir. It has fine sand beaches, such as Pita Beach and Peña Gamella Beach, perfect for swimming and prepared for nautical sports and fishing.
Finally, we end the route be going to Duruelo de la Sierra, from where we climb to the peaks of the Picos de Urbión Mountains. Here we will find marvellous landscapes, such as the source of the Duero River, wild pine and beech forests and glacial lakes. These include the famous Laguna Negra (Black Lake), immortalized by Machado in his poem “La tierra de Alvargonzález”, in the book of poems, Campos de Castilla.

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