We were looking for a way to spend the morning and we thought of going to the Forest of Oma, or the Painted Forest.
The entire route is about 8 kilometers long and is perfectly signaled. Inside the woods we found 47 figures and 47 arrows in the ground from where to look at each figure.
You can also visit the caves of Santimamiñe or the town of Oma, both near the forest.
The Forest of Oma has various charms. One of them is the surroundings: after going up 2.8 kilometers from the neighborhood of Bazondo in Kortezubi, you can see the painted trees of the Forest of Oma. They were painted by Agustín Ibarrola. Depending on where you stand you can see different interesting and colorful paintings. Another charm is the nature of the area: oaks, chestnuts, pine trees, eucalyptus and many other tree varieties.
You can find in the same area the caves of Santimamiñe. There, after a symbolic pay in the entrance, you can enjoy some interesting caves as well as a virtual
I specifically went to visit the Forest of Oma, or the Painted Forest, since I’d heard about the work of Agustín Ibarrola and I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
The journey to get there is worth it, since you walk through quite a steep path of about 2.5 kilometers.
Through the woods and once you are up you start to discover painted trees that form human figures, animals and geometric figures. You have to place yourself in the exact place where the eyes join various trees to form the figure. It’s a beauty. And just like that, running from one part to the other, joining trunks, you lose track of time.
The Forest of Oma is better known as “the painted forest”. It is without a doubt a magical place, with the combination of the natural beauty of the place with the beauty of the art of Agustín Ibarrola. This painter and sculptor left one of his most original works here, which consists of using the trees to show images full of color that can only be appreciated from certain points.
I will try to explain it better…when we arrived in the woods, apart from the characteristic green color of Biscay, we could observe that each tree had paintings that by themselves didn’t suggest anything. But when we stood in the arrows on the ground and looked again we could see that these fragments in the trees become one, creating figures of people or objects.
