Possibly Ucero, one of the most picturesque villages in this part of Soria, which borders on Burgos.
Its privileged location, fifteen kilometres from the manorial El Burgo de Osma and on the edge of that impressive escarpment, successfully declared a Natural Park, which is the Cañón del Río Lobos, contributes, and much, to give it the appearance of a mountain village, generating multiple sensations for travellers.
From Ucero we could say that it is a town that still conserves a good part of its traditional architecture, in whose houses the practical side of the Muslim culture and the iron solidity of the Castilian stone is felt, without ever forgetting its millenary Celtiberian roots.
In fact, it occurs to me that its name, beyond a possible reference to 'lucero' - would not be outlandish, since the presence of the Temple in the place was remarkable and part of the toponyms they used, derived from the adjective ‘albo', ‘alba' or ‘white' - would have its origin in one of the great gods of the Celtic pantheon: Lug.
In this respect, Louis Charpentier's theory is interesting, about the so-called ‘old Lug roads', which would connect different places, always based on the earth's telurism.
But it could also be related to the presence of this totemic animal, which gives its name to the formidable Canyon of which this town is the key: the wolf.
On the right side of the river Ucero -a river that, as you will see, also bears the same name as the village- watching like a hawk from the top of the mountain, the ruined castle, which is said to have belonged to the Knights Templar before passing to the nobility, seems to recall the mission of vigilance that they maintained, not only over the village, but also over the entrance to that mystical and sacred place that is the Canyon, in whose depths they built the hermitage of San Bartolomé, where pilgrimages continue to be held every 24th August.
Curiously, on the façades of some of the village's houses, many of which have the conical shape of their chimneys, some vestiges can still be seen, probably coming from the old castle and from a ruined Romanesque hermitage, whose remains can still be seen a few metres from the cemetery.
Among the remains, it is necessary to count old funerary stelae in which the paté or patada cross is observed, which the unfortunate Knights Templar wore in their habits.
The collapsed hermitage is called Villavieja, the name by which the village was formerly known and which dates back to the Middle Ages.
Following the main road and leaving on the left the detour that goes into the Canyon, continuing towards San Leonardo de Yagüe, you will find an excellent viewpoint, called ‘de la Galiana', from where you can obtain a superb panoramic view of it and its surroundings.
In short: Ucero, a town that grew up in the shadow of the Knights Templar and of a Canyon, that of the River Lobos, which was already eminently sacred in Neolithic times and whose wild and immense beauty is worth knowing.
WARNING: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property.
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[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 41.715729 lat -3.050627 long Knowing Soria and its province: Ucero d3scr)
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