In Zaragoza, the environment of the Ebro River offers various possibilities, both for those who have their own boat and for those who decide to start through organized group activities. However, those who go free should remember that in the first section of the Ebro Axis (from its birth in Cantabria, downstream of the Ebro Reservoir, to Escatrón) it is only allowed to go rowing; engine and sail are reserved for certain reservoirs.
But what do you have to do to navigate the Ebro? In the Aragonese capital there are several clubs that organize courses and activities in a canoe or kayak group through the Ebro, including the Helios Swimming Center, the Monkayak-Hiberus Club or the Zaragoza Yacht Club. The latter even offers excursions in a modality still little known but booming, paddle surfing, which consists of moving through the water standing on a kind of surfboard with the help of a paddle or paddle.
Los Ebronautas, a group of “lovers of rivers” who set up their company in 2005, also make excursions by canoe, kayak or raft, albeit with an added ingredient, as they combine the sports side with environmental disclosure.” Our activities come in good not only to learn how to go by canoe, but also to change your gaze towards the river, to get to know you better. Canoeing within the river is the best way to discover it. The river is the best classroom to talk about the river, and the best way to link people to their river environment and be fond of it,” says Nestor Jiménez, an environmental educator who is a member of Ebronautas.
Among the activities they offer, the ‘River Conquest of Zaragoza’, a canoe or pneumatic raft tour, about three and a half hours long, that runs through the environment from the jetty of the A-2 bridge to Vadorrey, passing through “the surprising nature of soto de Ranillas”. For the nightly, the Ebronautas also organize afternoon-night outings to contemplate from the water the sunset and the reflection of the illuminated Pilar Basilica. The sotos and galachos of the Ebro, the escarpes of Castellar or the ornithological descents are other possible excursions in a unique environment.
“The stretch of the Ebro is suitable for all audiences and with very unique landscape and cultural attractions,” says Néstor Jiménez, “but there is still much left for the people of Zaragoza and the riverside villages to be more present to the river as a first-class recreational space. I would like there to be a boost from the institutions so that the Zaragozan society knows that the river has very significantly improved its water quality and now there is a tremendous opportunity to enjoy it again as had always been done. Zaragoza can be presented as a destination for river tourism of the first order”.