* The authors are part of the community of La Vanguardia readers
Photographer Tino Soriano, a great connoisseur of the Estany de Banyoles, stated that it is “perhaps one of the places with the most photographers per square meter in Catalonia”, although “these passing reporters are not alone.”
“Poets praise the indisputable charm of its waters, painters its peculiar atmosphere, biologists its wonderful habitat, lovers its particular charm, athletes its extraordinary facilities, pedestrians the opportunity to talk and make friends and older people meet again in these places are a refuge,” he described.
In La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos we can see some of these scenes captured this fall in Banyoles, with the meteorological winter already upon us.
It is a pond that was part of the 1992 Olympics and is a world reference for the sport of rowing. Every year a crossing is held here with about 3,000 swimmers.
It is one of the most beautiful lakes in Catalonia and even in the entire Peninsula. You can go around its surroundings by boat, although on foot it is also pleasant and relaxing. You do approximately 5 km without realizing it.
There are several very well indicated routes. There are walkways and viewpoints that border the lake and bring you closer to the water to see the pond.
Fishing stands out. These buildings are similar to small palaces. They are the evolution and consolidation of the old walkways that, due to the shallow depth of the banks of the pond, were built for fishing.
These houses were built throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The fisheries are advanced in the water to have sufficient depth to fish. All are located in the area closest to the town.
We also see images of the surroundings of the beautiful Estany de Banyoles, on a sunny and cold autumn day. We can find small subsidiary ponds, bucolic paths, fields, forests and even the surprising encounter with a small herd of water buffaloes (females only) and elegant storks.
Lake Banyoles is the largest in Catalonia. The Estany and its lake basin are considered the largest karst complex in Spain and constitute an environmental system of notable value.
Lake Banyoles is of tectonic and karstic origin. It was formed in the Quaternary era, about 250,000 years ago. The tectonic movements produced by the formation of the Pyrenees opened the Empordà fault.
Erosion and other geological phenomena created the lake area. The first lake of Banyoles had an area much larger than the current one, flooding the banks about 6 or 8 meters above the current water level.
Many scientists maintain that the origin of the lake’s waters is related to the losses of the Ter and Fluvià rivers. Studies carried out in the 20th century show that the pond is fed underground by aquifers from the north and west, in the Alta Garrotxa area.
The water springs at three different levels forming the lake basin, which is made up of the streams of Espolla and Usall, the lagoon of San Miguel de Campomayor and the lake of Banyoles, but surface water also flows towards the lake, through the streams natives of Estunes, Vilà, Deus, Marquès, Tanyers, Castellana, Can Morgat and Lio, which account for 10% of the total water contributions to the lake.
