The best gravel rides around Calella

It looks as if we were some centuries back in time!

Tradition has it that when fishermen were far out at sea, they would look for a tiny white dot on the mountain amidst the green of the forest. It was this hermitage. It served as a reference point for them to orient themselves and know where the coast was. A kind of lighthouse, but on the mountain. And there's a second, even more curious story. Centuries ago, a severe smallpox epidemic affected the farmhouses of Hortsavinyà. Legend has it that a stranger appeared with an image of the Virgin and assured that those who came to pray to her would be healed. People associated the healings with that image, and eventually, the small oratory was built here. There's even a curious play on its name: Erola and verola—smallpox in Catalan—ended up being linked in popular tradition, although the origin of 'erola' seems to actually refer to the small plain where it is located. So that little white house lost among the trees was, depending on who looked at it, a sanctuary for some and an orientation point for those sailing down below in the Mediterranean.

Before the telephone, radio, or internet, messages could also travel at high speed. This tower was part of a 19th-century optical telegraph network: from the top, a system of mechanical signals was observed with telescopes from the next tower, which repeated the message to the following one. Thus, information could cover enormous distances without anyone having to transport it physically. And here comes the curious part: Puigmarí was just one link in a real chain of towers that communicated Barcelona with the French border. From here, visual contact had to be maintained with the neighboring towers. If you reach it, look at the landscape and try to locate where the next one could be seen from. Suddenly you understand why they built the tower exactly here and not a hundred meters lower. A kind of 19th-century internet, but with towers, telescopes, and signals.

Two thousand years old and still standing. The Romans built this aqueduct between the 2nd and 3rd centuries to carry water for about 3.5 km to a Roman villa located in Can Roig. The route had barely 40 meters of elevation change: fine engineering without GPS, laser, or any of that. It once had numerous arches to cross torrents; today only some sections survive. And a brutal detail: in medieval documents from 1090, it was already called Archus Antiquos, "the ancient arches". In other words, almost a thousand years ago people were already passing by here thinking: this has been here forever.

It looks like a stone hole lost in the forest, but inside here it reached 800 °C for 10 to 12 days straight. Limestone, tons of firewood, and people feeding the fire day and night to produce the lime with which houses were built and whitewashed. Today there is only silence and forest. Years ago, this was a small hell running 24 hours a day.

Sant Martí de Montnegre Una església aïllada dins del Parc Natural del Montnegre, de gran valor per la seva integració en el paisatge forestal. És un punt de referència en les rutes de l'interior.

Església de Sant Llop d'Hortsavinyà El document més antic on s'esmenta Hortsavinyà és del 1101, i el primer de l'església, del 1301, si bé la primitiva esglesiola podria ser del segle IX o X. La major part de l'edifici actual és del segle XVIII. Sant Llop n'és el patró (1 de setembre), i per això se celebra la festa major en aquestes dates, coincidint amb el primer diumenge del mes. I si sant Llop és el patró de l'església, santa Eulàlia ho és del poble, i pels volts del 10 de desembre se celebra la festa major petita d'Hortsavinyà. Tradicionalment, sant Llop fou l'encarregat, en la fe cristiana, de guarir el mal de coll i l'afonia, i se'l relacionava amb alguns comportaments dels llops. Tot això ens porta a cercar els seus orígens en un personatge precristià, el pare Llop, un home que convivia amb un ramat de llops a les muntanyes. Una vegada a l'any baixava a les masies a cobrar un tribut, que calia pagar si es volia evitar l'atac dels llops al bestiar i a les persones. També era creença general, segons podem llegir als bestiaris medievals catalans, que si un home veia un llop abans que el llop a ell, la bèstia restava muda per sempre més, però si era el llop qui el veia primer, qui perdia la veu era l'home. Això darrer es produïa per l'ensurt que patia la persona en trobar-se el llop. D'aquí ve la relació de sant Llop amb l'afonia. Font: XPN

Capella de Sant Isidre La capella de Sant Isidre es va veure afectada per la construcció de l’autopista del Maresme. Aquest fet va comportar que s’hagués de derruir per construir-la novament uns metres més enllà d’on s’alçava l’antiga. Ara es troba just a la plaça de Llillota. La seva estructura és moderna, però conserva l’encant d’estar situada en un paratge natural de gran bellesa, idoni per passejar i descansar. I, de fet, és aquí on any rere any se celebra el dinar de germanor per la festa de Sant Isidre, que tot i que és 15 de maig, el dinar es fa el diumenge següent. Font: Ajuntament de Santa Susanna