Teruel It is the province with the most beautiful towns in Spain, and it is not surprising. The natural environment that decorates this territory is full of spectacular municipalities such as Albarracín, Valderrobres, Calaceite, Mora de Rubielos and many others that are well worth a visit.
Although these are the most famous, there are others Teruel populations that stand out for beautiful castles or curious churches. The best proof of this is Castellote, a town of just over 600 inhabitants located in the Maestrazgo regionone of the most beautiful in the province.
Many people know it for the natural environment that surrounds it or for the big castle that crowns its lands, but what not everyone knows is that there is one of the most enigmatic and beautiful hermitages that exist.
A hermitage nestled in the rock
Castellote It is one of the first municipalities that we find when arriving in the Maestrazgo region. To do this we must cross a tunnel, but before that it is highly recommended to make a very interesting stop. If you look closely, on the mountainside You will be able to see a construction that attracts a lot of attention.
It is about the Hermitage of the Llovedora place where it is said that it never stops raining. But it is not that a continuous cloud lives above it that discharges liters of water without brakes. The reality is that this temple is built on a hillside with numerous leaks that create that feeling of rain and a small pond.
As if it were a chameleon, This hermitage is camouflaged in the limestone rock at the top of a rock, meaning that from afar you have to focus your eyes a lot to be able to find it. It is a construction of a single ship with a flat roof that has a presbytery and sacristy and whose origin dates back hundreds of years.
But its curious natural enclave and the continuous “rains” that decorate it are not the only interesting element of the Llovedor. There is a celebration historical tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation and that hundreds of people enjoy today.
The pilgrimage to the Llovedor hermitage
Every day, May 1, the men of Castellote leave on pilgrimage to the hermitage to listen to the mass in honor of the Virgen del Agua, hold an assembly and enjoy a good meal and, later, return to the town through Pocico de San Juan, where they stop to enjoy a snack. When night falls, they parade to the municipality with torches to illuminate the ravine.
Women also carry out the pilgrimage, but on a different day, in their case the Saturday closest to Pentecost. The origin of this tradition dates back to the year 1405, when the town suffered a horrible drought and eleven young people from the town marched to the hermitage of Castellón to ask the virgin to make it rain. Days later the water arrived and they built their own hermitage to continue this tradition for years.
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