Lago de Sanabria

Lake Sanabria is the largest lake in the Iberian Peninsula. (Altitude: 990 m. maximum depth: 51 m. Surface area 3,187,500 m²).

It is located in the Sanabria comarca,northwest part of the Zamora province, in the mountainous area of Sierra Segundera and Sierra de la Cabrera. It occupies a surface area of 22,365 Ha, with heights ranging from 997 meters in the lake banks to the 2,124 meters of the peak of Peña Trevinca.

The area around Sanabria is a frontier between Atlantic and Mediterranean ecosystems.

It was formed by glacial action, though the local legend claims a more colourful origin.

"On a cold wintery day, a man arrived at the village of Valverde de Lucerna. He was starving and asked for something to eat, but the menfolk told him to be gone. They did not want his kind in their village. Some women baking bread took pity on him and gave a few crusts. He made the women to take to the hills. Then he took his staff and drove into the ground commanding water to rise from the hole. Out it gushed, flooding the village and drowning all the men. The waters continued to rise until the lake was formed. All that remained of the village was the roof tip of the bakery, which now forms the little island in the centre of the lake. "

There are a number of lagoons scattered in the mountains and its canyons that show the action of the glacie activity of the Quaternary and make it a great place to study the action of glaciersover the terrain. Along with innumerous streams and the luxuriant and varied vegetation in every level, the park possesses high aesthetic and landscape value.