The Montgrí () is a small mountain range in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, on the north bank of the Ter river. It is part of the

Catalan Coastal Range The Catalan Coastal Range (, ) is a system of mountain ranges running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast in Catalonia, Spain. It is part of the Catalan Mediterranean System. Its main axis runs between the Foix River and the Roses Gulf a ...

and its highest point is 311 m.

Features

The Montgrí Massif stretches from east to west north of the town of

Torroella de Montgrí Torroella de Montgrí () is a coastal municipality on the Costa Brava, and small town in Catalonia, Spain. The town lies on the north bank of the Ter river, a few kilometres before it flows into the Mediterranean. The beach resort of L'Estartit al ...

, sheltering it from the Tramontana northern wind. Local people call it simply "el Montgrí". This long mountain formation looks like a sleeping

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

seen from afar. The Montgrí Massif is topped by an ancient fortress in the middle, the Montgrí Castle. Local people say the castle is the ring on the sleeping bishop's hand. It is a largely denuded

karstic Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. There is some eviden ...

mountain, beaten by the persistent winds that blow in the region. It has some

dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

at its feet, on its northern side, which formed by windblown sand coming from the shores of distant

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

. These dunes were fixed about a century ago by and lie now covered under low forest. The Medes Islands further east, beyond the town of

l'Estartit L'Estartit (; ) is a small town and seaside resort on the Costa Brava, part of the municipality of Torroella de Montgrí in the Baix Empordà county, Girona province, autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The town is situated between the fo ...

, are a geological prolongation of this massif.

Ecology

The vegetation on this massif consists mostly of low Mediterranean scrub among rocks. There are some clumps of Mediterranean fan palm ''(Chamaerops humilis)'', being one of the northernmost locations where this small palm grows wild. The lower edges of the mountain have some

mediterranean forest Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub is a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters, although in some areas rainfall may be uniform. Summers are typically hot in ...

, made up mainly of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

(''Pinus halepensis''), as well as some

cork oak ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork (material), cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, ...

(''Quercus suber'') and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

(''Quercus sp.''). The

owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

''(Bubo bubo)'' nest in some of the caves on the sides of the long hill system. There is a variety of endemic

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

inhabiting this mountain range. Formerly there were

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s on the side of the Montgrí. They were abandoned in the 19th century following severe

phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...

plagues. Remains of the ancient vineyards can still be seen. The Montgrí Massif is often ravaged by

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s, especially during long dry spells; the last serious fire was in 2004.

References

External links

El Montgrí - TrekkingMontgrí Castle route
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgri Massif Mountain ranges of Catalonia Geography of the Province of Girona