This summer we had the
opportunity to guide a mountain group to "Agulles of St.
Agatha" in the natural park of Desierto de las Palmas.
The amazing surprise come
early for everybody because of its micro-reserve of Mediterranean
flora from one side, to the other for the most remarkable religious
past about the presence of the order of Carmel since ancient times
with poetical names. As the word "desert" which alludes to
the soul in mystical language struggling to meet God in solitary
places for praying, known as hermitages in the mountain. And the
last reason because of the mixture of pink and grey stones that gives
to it an special colour during the dawn break and sunset with
splendid overviews of the Mediterranean Sea from this natural
Platform
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| Bahía de Benicassim desde el Bartolo |
The name of the highest peak,
"bartolo" (729mt) owes its name to the brother Bartolomé.
One of the most famous monks who lived here, of which it is said he
used to enjoy during springtime the landscape at the top and have a
nap or siesta.The second important formation are Santa Águeda
needles"with its pinkish and reddish forms that give a
particular ghost charm by its presence next to the intense blue of
the sea and the soft green of the palms and Mediterranean plants.
This pink-colour formation comes from the Triassic, about 250 million
years ago, as a conglomerate of Red stones (rodeno)
resting on grey slates. Its pyramid shapes, pointed cusps and angled
slopes formed by Triassic red and pink sandstones makes them so
striking and responsible for its name of Agulles (spires).
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| Pink finger-like agulles |
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| Organ-tube agulles |
The name Santa Agueda was
not given by a geologist but by an imaginative carmelite order
religious man who lived once in the area. Santa Águeda was a martyr
of Catania, in Sicily, in the first centuries of Christianity, in the
mountains of Sicily. He was born in Palermo towards 230aD, a fervent
Christian with whom he felt in love Quintian, Governor of Sicily.
Agueda fled to Catania but Quintilian captured her and applied the
torment in her body. Among the instruments needles were used to
destroy the breast of the poor Virgin. San Peter appeared in her cell
in jail to heal her. But she finally died February 5h of the year
251. According to some witness Etna volcano erupted one year later
at the same day. In the vicinity of les Agulles is located an
Hermitage in honour of two feminine saints, the hermitage of Les
Santes,dedicated to Santa Lucia and Santa Agatha,restored in 1617 by the bishop of Cabanes, a nearly town..
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| Hermitage of Les Santes |
It was a priest of Cabanes, who
recommended the Carmelite order to found in the desert of las Palmas
around 1698. Saint Lucia is the patroness of a healthy sight and
Agatha, a patroness and advocate of women. Some festivals area
dedicated to St. Agatha in the Iberian Peninsula confirming her role
as defender against any abuse concerning gender equality, as in
Castile where ladies are given the batons for a day.
We finish this blog talking
about the origins of such curiosity name as Agulles of Santa
Agueda Spires of Saint Agatha).
Twin chest-shaped mountains are common in the Iberian Peninsula. In
this case, should it be a religious member who baptized them as
dedicated mountains to Saint Agatha to relate them to the nearby
Hermitage. And the form of "needles" of course remind us
the instruments of torment with which Sicilian executioners wanted
to deprive the santa of her feminity. If we look from the
agulles to the Bartolo's mountain we can observe that the peak
recalls as the head of the Virgin while the needles should look like
a body lying down towards the calmed waters of the Mediterranean sea
while receiving her martyrdom.
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| The big spire |
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| Smaller spire formations |
The Monte Bartolo,
200 meters high, gives us amazing views around the 180 km of the
Valencian Gulf from the river Ebro mouth at north mouth to the Montgo
mountain at Javea to the south . In front of us the silhouette of
Columbretes Islands. Behind us the first Hermitage ruins and the
current Carmelite convent. A joy for the senses. A real trip to
cultural Valencia and Castellon.
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| Roman arch at Via Augusta |
Jose Vicente Niclos
Tourist Official Guide, Pt. Of
Apit
Bibliogrhapy:
Vicente Sos Babyat, El valle de Miravet
y “Les Agulles de Santa Agueda” (sep. Del Boletín de la Sociedad
Castellonense de Cultura t. xxxv e. octubre -Diciembre 1959.
Juan Emilio Prades,
Eremitorio
de les Santes, Cabanes: Costumbres y paisajes Bel
