In the extreme south of La Rioja, where the gypsum slopes hide under the shadow of Peña Isasa, a silent hamlet still overlooks the valley. What was a small town full of life is today a network of cracked walls in which vegetation has learned to occupy every space. The air smells of thyme, hot clay and a past that resists among ruins. They say its name arose from the sound of a stone rolling down a hill. (“turrún, turrún, puppy, puppy”), and that an ancient earthquake left visible scars on facades and vaults. In Turruncún, legend and geology together tell the same story.
Whoever comes here does not find visitor centers or signposted routes: only the regional road winding along the valley, the murmur of the Cidacos River in the background and a network of alleys that suggest the original layout of a town that was gradually disappearing. The depopulation culminated in 1974, when the last neighbors left and the hamlet was left attached to Arnedo. Since then, the parish has kept the memory alive with an annual pilgrimage that returns voices to a place where, for decades, the sound of bells marked the daily rhythm.
Before it was empty, Turruncún was its own town hall, with a school, fronton, orchards and houses facing the sun. Its most emblematic building, the church of Santa María, was built between the 15th and 18th centuries and today dominates the hamlet like a stone archive open to the sky. Its walls are part of the Red List of heritage in danger and its entire environment is integrated into the Red Natura 2000 and in the Biosphere Reserve from the valleys of Leza, Jubera, Cidacos and Alhamaone of the largest in the north of the peninsula.
A route with history
Added to human history is an episode that marked the destiny of the town: the earthquake of February 18, 1929felt even in Bilbao and Zaragoza. That earthquake opened deep fissures in homes, vaults and main walls, leaving wounds that can still be read in the stone today. Oral tradition maintains that the toponym arose from the noise of stones falling down the slopes, a sound nod very typical of a place that has always lived attentive to the mountains.
Beyond the ruins, Turruncún invites you to explore a landscape that changes with every step. Upon leaving the hamlet, the path widens between old almond trees and terraces, then narrows and becomes scented with thyme. The plaster shines on the slope, small cuts appear, shadows of oak trees and a still pond where the wind makes soft swirls. If the day calls for more kilometers, just connect with the Cidacos Greenwaylaid out on the old railway, with short tunnels and walkways that fly over the river.
The perfect end to the route is a few minutes away by car: the Arnedillo thermal poolsa set of natural ponds where mineral-medicinal waters emerge at about 52.5 °C. The contrast with the cold river turns bathing into a small thermal ritual highly appreciated by travelers and locals. As the afternoon falls, when the steam draws figures on the water, the valley seems to recover (for an instant) the warmth of a slower time.
Turruncún is today a stone skeleton, but also a viewpoint towards Riojan rural memory. Among its empty streets you can still hear the echo of bells, the rustling of stones and the distant sound of a town that, although it has disappeared from the map, refuses to disappear from memory.