To live with a 50-meter free fall at the foot of the window

Castellfollit of the RockThe panoramic view of the Castellfollit de la Roca cliff is one of the most beautiful and iconic postcards of Catalonia. An entire village suspended on a basalt rock, with a church and a row of houses perched on the edge of a fifty-meter precipice that plunges into the Fluvià river. On the cornice of this cliff, naturally formed by several lava flows over 350,000 years ago, live approximately 350 residents, more than a third of the inhabitants of this small municipality in the Garrotxa region.

One of them is Salvador Ros, who has lived in one of the old houses on the cliff for eleven years. On the ground floor, he has a small shop selling local products where he sells cured meats, artisan beers, and souvenirs for visitors. The establishment, El Racó de la Font, faces Carrer de l’Església, on the interior side of the village. Ros lives on the first floor with his wife, Carme, who was born in this house, and above them lives her son with his young wife and grandson. All the balconies and windows on the north side face directly into the abyss, and at the very top, there is even a terrace where they often have meals and celebrations. The views with the entire green landscape of the Alta Garrotxa on the horizon are spectacular, but the sensation of being suspended over the void is not for those who are afraid of heights.

"At first it's impressive, but you get used to it. In fact, my wife has vertigo, in other places with a lot of height she feels bad, but here at home she doesn't mind anymore," explains Ros. For the couple, living with a sheer drop on one of the building's walls is absolutely normalized. They are not fazed by it or give it importance.

Nor does it worry them or scare them. In fact, the cliff is monitored minute by minute, every day of the year, by the monitoring systems of the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya. Motion sensors, laser scanners, and cameras allow for the detection of any crack, landslide, or movement that could put the houses at risk. Annual reports record micro-landslides with some frequency, especially on days with bad weather, but they are imperceptible to the population and pose no risk.

"The last incident was in the 70s, when the family was having dinner at the table and heard a very loud noise and the rock fig tree came down the wall," recalls Ros. Since then there have been no remarkable problems. Of course, Ros, who is already a grandfather, takes special precautions every time the grandchildren come: "We block the balconies that overlook the cliff with harnesses to be calmer," he admits.

Dampness on the ground floor and weeds growing up the wall

The house where Carme and Salvador live, like all those in the narrow streets around the church, is made of old stone and mortar. The walls are thick and withstand the harshness of cold and heat well. However, as the terrain is volcanic stone, the houses do not have deep foundations and the ground rises directly on the rock. "If you scratch a little, stone comes out, so on the ground floor we have quite a bit of humidity. We have to paint it often because mold appears immediately," remarks the neighbor.

Besides the floor, the other drawback is the north facade that faces the precipice, as its maintenance is not easy at all. On the wall below, weeds and even trees easily grow and climb upwards. The owners can remove part of it, but often the intervention of professionals working hanging with harnesses is necessary. "We can clean what we can reach, but the vegetation always returns. Right now there is a fig tree under the house that is already big again and someone specialized will have to come to cut it," Ros concludes.

The cleaning and maintenance work depends on the Castellfollit de la Roca Town Hall and must be done with the authorization of the Natural Park of the Volcanic Zone of La Garrotxa. They have an approximate cost of between 40,000 and 50,000 euros annually, an amount that the council cannot assume alone and, therefore, calls for more support from higher administrations to guarantee the conservation and safety of this precious geological and architectural heritage.