Attractions and Places To See around Cenarruza-Puebla De Bolívar - Top 20

The Oma Forest - Omako basoa in Basque - is also known as the painted forest, the enchanted forest or even the Ibarrola Forest. Its most common name - Oma Forest - refers to the district in which it is located, which belongs to the municipality of Kortezubi. This original work of art was created between 1982 and 1985, when the Basque painter and sculptor Agustín Ibarrola used the trunks of trees as a kind of canvas for a total of 47 images. On them he painted animals, geometric figures and people, or just parts of them, such as eyes and lips. In addition, many of the compositions do not consist of a single tree, but must be viewed in the context of several tree trunks. To do this, you must pay attention to the signs on the ground that tell the viewer where to stand in order to enjoy the whole image.

A peaceful, pretty and quiet walk. Recommended with children.

In 1982, artist Agustín Ibarrola began painting the pine trees in the forest near his homestead with the intention of using the landscape as a canvas to give continuity to his artistic expression. It is at this moment when he decides to break the law of perspective and transgress the three-dimensionality of a white line until it becomes two-dimensional. From then on, he explored the possibilities offered by the arrangement of the forest trees, playing with the different planes of depth and creating artistic sets composed of human figures, curves or straight lines, and circles of intense colors. The ideas and concepts that it develops become more complex and advances in various directions as the painted forest expands. With the help of two students from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UPV/EHU, he carried out a large part of the work that was open to the public until 2018, at which time the biological cycle of the forest came to an end. Given the importance that the work had acquired, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia began the process of making the Forest last, for which it had from the first moment the support of the artist who had made clear his desire for the forest to survive. In this way and in order to preserve El Bosque de Oma, the Ibarrola work has been moved to a new location, also recovering original artistic ensembles lost due to felling, attacks and natural tree falls. Today we can enjoy El Bosque de Oma more complete and more faithful to the artist's original idea.

The Forest of Oma is one of the best-known works of the Basque artist Agustín Ibarrola and is an expression of the artistic movement known as Art and Nature, which emerged in the late sixties of the 20th century and whose purpose is to convey artistic work to the natural environment, using the landscape as a framework, support and raw material for the artist. The work, located in the town of Kortezubi (Bizkaia), is made up of several sets of geometric motifs and figures painted on the trunk of radiata pine trees. The use of natural living supports, the play of two-three-dimensionality and the experience of placing the visitor at the center of the work of art through his discovery, as well as the diversity of responses it proposes, make this work a reference of the Art and Nature movement and of Basque Art in particular.

Montecalvo is located at an altitude of 381 meters, offering impressive views of the sea and Urdaibai on one side and Duranguesado on the other. The Muniketa road was the main communication route south through Durango until 1848, when the Autzagane road was improved.

This bridge is an incredible find in the middle of the forest. It is covered with ivy and in summer it is so green that it is hardly visible. If you go down next to the river you can take some great photos with the water and the bridge. For many years this bridge has had to survive numerous floods. It's amazing that he's still here.

The Artzubi Romanesque bridge was built in the 16th century. Wherever you see it, it has overcome floods and floods from the Golako River, which passes below and flows into the Oka River. In another time there were more bridges like this one, but it is the only one in the area that has endured. https://www.urdailife.com/artzubi-puente-cuento-arratzu-mendata/

From the top of Muniketa or Montecalvo, there are exceptional views and you can see the sea and Urdaibai on one side, as well as the Duranguesado on the other. Muniketa is a dispersed neighborhood with several typical hamlets and until 1848 it was the main route of communication to the south through Durango. That year the Autzagane road was improved. In Muniketa is the Astei agrotourism, a rehabilitated farmhouse with restaurant service from where we can perfectly see a slope of Mount Oiz and Goraño. From Artatza, the ascent is a 3.7-kilometre climb with 261 meters of positive elevation gain, 12 beautiful horseshoe curves and a very regular slope of around 7%. From Muxika, the ascent is 9 kilometers and a total of 382 meters of positive slope. More info at: https://www.muxikakoudala.eus/es-ES/informacion-cultural/Barrios/Paginas/Muniketa.aspx