The paths of exile II: from Molló (Ripollès) to Prats de Molló (Vallespir)

• Past Excursions

DATE: October 23rd at 8 a.m.

With the series of routes “The paths of exile” we will visit beautiful, peculiar and/or interesting places linked to the drama of the civil war and the forced exile of hundreds of thousands of people who were forced to cross the border to France in terrible conditions fleeing Franco’s Spain.

And on this occasion, Enjoy Catalonia offers a very complete historical, recreational and cultural visit to the Camprodon Valley (Molló) and the north Catalan region of Vallespir, already in French territory. Towards the end of the civil war, from January 27 to February 13, 1938, between 85,000 and 95,000 people crossed the Pyrenees, from the Comprodon valley to the Vallespir, on their way to an exile that for most of them would be long and painful. Many of these refugees were initially welcomed by the inhabitants of Prats de Molló, which became an improvised camp for tens of thousands of refugees.

MOLLÓ

Molló, a small village located in the valley of Camprodon (Ripollès), enjoys privileged views and its heritage includes the Romanesque church of Santa Cecilia.

During the last months of the civil war, tens of thousands of people crossed the border by one of the three escape routes from the municipality of Molló: the Coll d’Ares road, the old road that went from Camprodon to Coll d’Ares passing by the carabinieri’s cottage, and the Espinavell road, at Coll Pregon.

And before the war, some businessmen, deserters and people related to Franco’s coup d’état also fled to France along these paths.

PRATS DE MOLLÓ

One of the iconic images of the Republican exile was the arrival in Prats de Molló of thousands of people who, after crossing the border through the Coll d’Ares, were interned in a refugee camp.

And in 1926, before the civil war, Prats de Molló was already the scene of a political event of special relevance: the arrest by French gendarmes of Francesc Macià and the group of armed men who accompanied him when they were about to cross the border to start an armed uprising in Catalonia against the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.

THE PLAN

8h: We are in the Universitat square (main entrance of the UB)

10-12h: Arrival in Molló, breakfast and guided tour of the town (historical contextualization)

12-13.30h: Bus to Prats de Molló, with a stop at the border exile memorial

13.30-15h: Free time to eat

15-16.30h: Guided tour in Prats de Molló (historical contextualization)

16.30-19h: Coach back to Barcelona

DATE: October 23, 2021

GUIDE: Toni Bellido

LANGUAGE: Spanish

MINIMUM GROUP 20 PEOPLE AND MAXIMUM 30