In the south of La Garrotxa, right in the heart of the Hostoles valley, is the municipality of Sant Feliu de Pallerols. The Brugent river, an affluent of the Ter, divides the area from where more than fifty springs flow.
A good route around Sant Feliu de Pallerols might start at the village's Tourist Office, from where you head to the historic centre formed by a group of historic and architectural constructions from the 12th-13th century, such as the parish church, the La Sagrera and La Cellera houses, the chapel of Nostra Senyora del Roser, the chapel and medieval bridge of Sant Sebastià, the El Firal boulevard, La Conqueta mill and the avant-garde building of Can Casas. The route shows the medieval structure of the village centre and how it evolved from the houses of La Sagrera and the 13th-century Romanesque church to the 14th-century walled La Cellera house and today's village.
But Sant Feliu de Pallerols is much more than history: it is also one of the most interesting places in La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, where volcano activity also left its mark. The Brugent river crosses the village and is a good place to see the lava flows from the eruption of the El Traiter volcano that cover the riverbed. Very near the historic centre are another two volcanoes: Sant Marc and Puig Roig, both 20 min from the centre of the village.
Both volcanoes are the most recent of the Hostoles Valley and their eruptions date back around 30,000 years. Sant Marc volcano has a horseshoe-shaped crater due to the lava flow during the last phase of the eruption. As an anecdote, an old, restored basalt quarry can be visited at Puig Roig volcano, where a large amount of cobblestones were mined to pave the roads of towns and cities.
From Sant Feliu de Pallerols you can also follow different signposted routes to the Pou del Glaç ice well or climb up to Hostoles Castle or Colltort Castle, both of which were important fortresses during the Remença uprising in the Middle Ages.
