The world has finally started traveling again after the pandemic. We have noticed that there has been an increase in tourist travel for a very peculiar region of Spain. The reason? The sunken town of Aceredo, a small town on the border between Spain and Portugal.
What Happened?
Aceredo, a Galician Village in the Northwest of Spain, became a ghost town when it was fully covered by water.
How? you may ask. Well, the reason is that a hydroelectric company from Portugal decided to sink The Lindoso reservoir, which borders Spain and Portugal, causing terrible consequences for the Spanish Village. The dam lies in Peneda-Gerês National Park close to the border with Spain.
In addition to Aceredo, four other towns were engulfed in this Galician area: A Reloeira, Buscalque, O Bao y Lantemil.
The event took place on the 8th of January of 1992. Making Aceredo a completely sunken town. The water completely covered all their houses and structures.
However, Now, 30 years later, the town has again emerged. Many blame it on climate change.
After being under gallons of water for decades, it is finally beginning to resurface, revealing bizarre ruins of the sunken village that have attracted tourists.
A drought has made the Lindoso reservoir almost disappear. Now, you have the opportunity to see and visit the remains of the town.
The Spanish region of Galicia is suffering from intense droughts that are wreaking havoc on the region. The Alto Lindoso reservoir, which once took over the city, now works only at only 15% of its capacity.
Bringing a moving landscape, both breathtaking and harsh, which currently attracts hundreds of tourists, Spanish and Portuguese.
Current situation
These days, coinciding with the low flow, it is possible to see part of the houses of Aceredo, which remain as before, although in the water.
You can still appreciate in Aceredo The old town fountain and the remains of the 70 houses and about 120 neighbors that used to live there. All of this, today, in the midst of an almost ghostly landscape.
After three decades, the citizens still remember perfectly that day. when the water forced them to leave their entire lives behind. Now, some families live in the nearby towns, while others decided to leave.
The town mayor, María del Carmen Yáñez, is blaming both climate change and the Portuguese company EDP, which manages the dam that is emptying.
Maybe both of them are to blame, but the Portuguese government is doing nothing to help with the situation either.
Audiovisual Adaptation
The incident, which is part of the history of this region, was transformed into a documentary.
The documentary was named Os dias afogados, by César Souto and Luis Avilés (2015). It narrates the sinking, based on home recordings. A catastrophe that the inhabitants of Aceredo will always remember.
The documentary appeared in many international film festivals and won the Mestre Mateo award.
Similar events
The sunken town of Ceredo isn’t an isolated event. In fact, in recent years, a good number of picturesque European cities are coming to light, reminding the world that they exist.
This is the case of Curon, located in the north of Italy. It was sunk by the unilateral decision of the government to merge two small natural lakes to build a hydroelectric plant.
As in Spain, its inhabitants disagreed, but they could do absolutely nothing. The construction of the dam went ahead and the Curon and Resia lakes merged seven decades ago, making it sunken town as well.
The government’s decision left historic buildings such as the Church of Curón from 1357 under the water.
However, thanks to the renovation of the site, the dam had to be emptied and the remains of Curon emerged to the surface and could be seen for the first time in seven decades.
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