What a wonderful opportunity we have, now that we walk the dusty roads of that ancient Soria, ever friendly and staunch defender of the inexhaustible source of wisdom that is legends and traditions, to approach one of its most hidden corners and embark on a fantastic journey through its silences, where, paradoxically, the echoes survive not of a multitude of cultures whose ashes time has returned to the clay from which they sprang, but of myths that, through sheer repetition, have become archetypes of the collective memory: Termancia.
Far from the Garden of the Hesperides, the Tartessian cattle of Geryon, and the domains of the giant Breogán, there was a Castilian Hercules who, like Perseus millennia before, confronted here one of those titans born from the most extravagant concoctions of Evolution, which Science denies, but which the people, who always pay with their innocence for the broken plates of Voltairean rationalism, insist on recognizing, respecting, and of course, fearing: the serpent known in these parts by the curious name of Elpha.
Fortunately for our honor, the deranged Hercules did not pass through this forgotten corner of Old Castile, nevertheless teeming with supernatural whispers; But the avenger of Vivar did, that good vassal of a bad ruler, who, on his way to forced exile, where he would be hardened by his life's adventure, or rather, his hero's journey, confronted, teeth gritted and his sword Tizona in hand, this nightmarish being, who, according to the tales of these parts, continues to sleep his eternal sleep in the deepest and most unknown recesses of his impenetrable catacombs.
In short, one could say that a journey to the mysterious troglodyte city of Termantia is much more than a simple adventure: it is a journey to the most remote mythological and cultural origins of a nation.
Therefore, intrepid traveler, don't be surprised if, when you venture into these unique labyrinths, someone tells you: "Come to Termantia and come out if you can."
NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property and are therefore subject to my copyright.
