Rubió, elevation 1,687 m: Catalonia's highest town
Mayor demands official recognition as most elevated municipality
At 1,687 meters above sea level, Rubió, one of the fourteen villages in the Pyrenean municipality of Soriguera, is Catalonia's most elevated town.
But much to the dismay of Soriguera mayor Josep Ramon Fondevila, the Pallars Sobirà county municipality he oversees is not officially Catalonia's highest – the Idescat statistics institute only takes into consideration the elevation of municipal capitals.
"We are clearly home to Catalonia's highest town and we are therefore Catalonia's highest municipality," Fondevila argued.
Because of this, Soriguera, population 420, is officially only 1,258 meters above sea level and therefore ranked behind Meranges (1,539 m), Lles (1,471 m), and Toses (1,444 m).
Despite this, Rubió proudly displays a sign telling visitors they are in Catalonia's most elevated town. Defying Idescat's municipality-based ranking, it instead includes Bastida de Cerdanya (1,662 m), Tor (1,649 m), Port del Compte (1,644 m), and Montgarri (1,640 m) in its list.
According to Fondevila, being officially recognized as Catalonia's most elevated village could help attract more tourists.
Rubió, not to be confused with the Anoia county town with the same name, is home to a rock garden and a restaurant.
It is also not far from Santa Creu de Llagunes, an uninhabited medieval village, which at 1,628 meters above sea level is Catalonia's biggest excavated archaeological site at that altitude, where Bronze Age, medieval, and Civil War-era artifacts have been discovered.