To the north of the town of Besalú stand a series of fascinating Romanesque churches built between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Although the most practical way of visiting these monuments is by car, it is also worth considering the option of taking advantage of the network of signposted paths and trails that exists in this area.
Sant Pere de Lligordà near Beuda is a twelfth-century construction with a south-facing main door, a rectangular floor plan and a semi-circular apse.
Santa Maria de Palera, also near Beuda, has a barrel-vault roof supported by two transverse arches and an east-facing semi-circular apse. Its Gothic alabaster Mother of God is today in the Girona Museum of Art.
Nearby stands Sant Sepulcre de Palera, an outstanding eleventh-century Romanesque church consecrated in 1085 built from large, well-hewn blocks. Its central nave is crowned by a barrel vault and the lateral naves by half-barrel vaults, each supported by rectangular pillars and giving onto an apse. A simple bell-tower with two openings rises from the west-facing façade.
Another church well worth visiting is Sant Feliu de Beuda, dating from the eleventh century, which has a highly valuable twelfth-century baptismal font decorated with bas-relief figures and blind arcs.
To the east stands Santa Maria de Segueró, a single-naved eleventh-century Romanesque church that contains a polychromed alabaster image of the Virgin Mary dating from the fourteenth century.
In the village of Maià de Montcal stands the church of Sant Vicenç, dating from 978. It boasts a rectangular nave and semi-circular east-facing apse, as well as a main door adorned with intriguing ironwork.
Close to the boundary between La Garrotxa and the neighbouring county of Alt Empordà in a splendid site offering panoramic views over the Empordà plain rises the church of Santa Magdalena de Maià (thirteenth century), which was once the church belonging to the priory of Santa Maria de Jonqueres (also thirteenth century). It has a pointed barrel-vault roof and an apse with a half barrel-vault roof.
Finally, the church of Sant Martí (twelfth century) in the hamlet of Dosquers has a single nave with a barrel-vault roof and a semi-circular apse. Near Maià de Montcal stands the chapel of Sant Prim i Sant Felicià, next to which gushes an abundant spring that legend states burst into thirst-quenching life the day the relics of the saints were being carried to Besalú.
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Nearby trails:
- Lligordà i Palera
- El Castellot
- Beuda - Sant Sepulcre de Palera
- El Mont
- Castell de Falgars
- Mitja Marató de la Mare de Déu del Mont
