The ruins of Eugi

Above my videoclip  Off the Lane was in part filmed in this location, but I’ve returned to this place COUNTLES times… and here is an article about the place.  I love to bring my friends here when they come to visit. The blog post mix old and recent pictures. 🙂

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Follow me and enter the Ruins of Eugi, one of my favourite places to visit in my area

Located in Quinto Real forest, a lush beech wood in North Western of Navarre (North of Spain). Eugi was the oldest of the two Royal Munition Factories that can be found in the region. I already covered Orbaitzeta in a previoust post but Eugi is smaller in size and a century older. The remains run over Arga River and are dated in the XVI century.

The smithy closed one century after being built when it ran out of materials, which led to the construction of Orbaitzeta

The archs are similar to the ones we find in Orbaitzeta, as the latest was built as a bigger replica after Eugi had exploited the resources around it at the time.
Now the forest is fully recovered and protected… and the whole factory (and its ugly purpose) engulfed by lush vegetation and damp moss. Beneath the archs there are spots where the water covers up to your waist. Cold and hyaline, the whole place is purified. Nature has won this round. The remaining walls and archs are silent witnesses of the flowing of the seasons.

Eugi is really well preserved and ruins can be found two sides of the road… archs, walls, all covered in vines and ivy. Like the remains of old fairytale castles…

Being further from any populated area and having had 100 years more exposed to the elements than its bigger sister Orbaitzeta, Eugi is already one with the forest.

At some spots the structures are so concealed that it’s difficult to make the man-made parts out… as it seems to be entwined with growing plants. Especially at this time of the year, where weeds crawl and cover everything in green. In autumn and winter, the whole place is more conspicuous but then veiled permanently by fog and mist. Temperature here is usually cooler, and if we continue up the road we will see Mount Adi crowning the beechwoods.

This is a place I come often. I filmed several scenes of my videoclip and song “Off the Lane” here and being one hour drive from home I come to visit this forest rather often.

Below: A still from when I filmed my videoclip. This photo is much older than the rest included in this article. Sadly this part is now being restored so they have added a fence and it doesn’t look like in this picture. The rest of the images are fair recent.

As I have said before I have a fascination for abandoned places, their romantic and almost decadent beauty… how they shift sometimes into something new and beautiful when it’s claimed back by Nature.

I love to see the ruins now integrated with the forest… Quinto Real is home of deer and boar and it’s frequent to see vultures in the sky. Spain has 80% of vultures in Europe. In autumn is not rare to see the blurry silhouettes of deer or boar cloaked in mist… Those are the “ghosts” that now inhabit the ruins of Eugi.

Here I come often to feel inspired… I compose songs with the rustling sounds of the leaves, the chirping of birds… songs that grow in the filtered green light that is reflected on the water…
Dancing Sparkles

Fairy lights

Above: me composing with my flute under Eugi Ruins (Arga river)