In 1987 the whole generation of fathers / mothers of my age lived their particular Road to Soria with Cabinet Caligari and his beautiful album through which time has passed excellently. That disc full of love songs, some sucking, austerity and much dust of the Castilian roads is still part of our memory and it is a luxury to remember.
The Camino Soria disc was a love story with verses as spectacular as: "I'm on my way to Soria, where are you going? I'm there in glory, I never felt. I'm on my way to Soria, I want to rest, erasing my memories of betrayals and so on." So remembering Soria and the inspiring works of Gustavo Adolfo Béquer and Antonio Machado, I started looking for routes to walk with the kids along the banks of the Douro and I have found a particularly beautiful I'm sure many parents have already done with their children.
And is that the Douro river passing through Soria performs a fantastic curve called the Crossbow. It is an area of expansion for the Sorianos and for all visitors who apparently are perfectly prepared to walk, walk, enjoy and isolate themselves for a few hours with the family.
In the curve of the Crossbow you can find the Arches of San Juan de Duero, San Saturio, San Polo, the Soto Playa, the Sierra Santa Ana or farther places such as La Sequilla, Valhondo or Valdebecerro, downstream on the way to Los Rábanos. All these places remain strongly rooted in popular culture and although they are not explicitly mentioned in the Cabinet record I am sure that when they went there the musicians were fascinated with the landscape.
I have also read that the places near the Duero and Soria have not changed over time because the rocky character, the abrupt nature of the surroundings and the low productivity of the surrounding soils have allowed nature to remain intact in the area. In addition, along the banks of the river, the manufacturing industry that took advantage of the energy produced by water mills. At present there are cultural centers, such as the Water Museum or the Ecocentro, that help the visitor to know better the reality of how that area was.
I have been through Soria many times by car and, fleeing from the boring beltway, I have crossed the beautiful Castilian city even knowing that I was wasting time although I gained in entertainment and beauty of the landscape. What I remember most, when I was in my father's car, was the stone bridge, still in force, that crossed the river by the N-234 and from which you could see in the distance San Saturio and closer to the Antonio Machado Parador that looks out over the river and the lush forests of the banks.
Soria is a fantastic territory to discover as a family and I recommend the excursion these spring days along the banks of the Duero now that it is especially abundant and beautiful.
