Buitrago de Lozoya: Castle, Bunkers, and Picasso
What makes Buitrago unique?
Buitrago del Lozoya is the home of Picasso's loved barber, Eugenio Arias. A 26 year-old friendship that started in France ended up erecting a museum in this small, medieval town yielding approximately 60 pieces of art. To be frank, these are not Picasso’s best works, and some are even bad. These were more of his sketches or experimental work. Art you might draw on the sides of your notebook to pass the time in math class. But it cannot be argued that these are Picasso originals. The museum is quite small, though, and only a small part of what is to see around the town.
Like in Spanish fashion, the town is trying to capitalize on the story of this famous barber. I have never seen so many barbers such a small town in my life. I dont know if they realize, but I would never go to a barber just because there was once a barber who lived in that town that knew Picasso. At least there is a great pizza place in the town.
When approaching the town there is a more predominate feature that one would notice. If its not the medieval wall that runs along the edge of the town, bordering the river, it is probably the castle that sits at the cusp. The town is small and perfectly walkable from edge to edge. The walls, castle, and Picasso museum can be seen within a day, but for the more adventurous there is one other sight to see.
A walk outside the town, along a trail, one can get a great view of the town while enjoying the outdoor nature of Madrid. A walk along this unmarked trail, I dont remember how long but I would guess 20-40 mins, will take you to actual Spanish civil war bunkers, a large tower that looks quite unique, and a satellite farm that can be seen in the distance. The real price here are the civil war bunkers that help tell the story of the Nazi/Franco invasion of Spain. The Bunkers are small, simple, and empty, but if not for the bunkers, the walk is quite refreshing.
This is where the entrance is. You end up walking behind some houses and need to cross a narrow “bridge” to get over the river.
This is what the entrance looks like. You will need to go under/over an old barbed-wire fence.
The trail is quite difficult to find, see the google maps image. The trail is unmarked so you will probably need a phone to navigate. Touch/click the images to enlarge. For the whole route, you can find a great guide here. You may need to use google translator.
