There are several ways to choose where to go. If it is summer, and only have three days off, it is easy to make a way out of Catalonia. So it was two autumns ago we decided to Teruel.
Teruel is located southwest of Catalonia, a province famous in Spain as, paradoxically, unknown. Apparently the world has not given any major city, or any artist of renown, has not recorded any page in history. This province is mostly known by the phrase "Teruel exists also, which is a kind of national joke. Still, it has areas that is well worth knowing. For example, the region Matarraña , the closest to Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhich is named after a river that runs through and is filled with medieval old towns.
After climbing to the cave of a hermit, we visited Valderrobres , maybe the people that I liked the whole trip.
The state of abandonment of some construction was remarkable. To me these buildings close to collapse I love, but the English tend not to understand: these signs of decline of shame, or at least do not see any charm. Seem to prefer the facades reconstructed with a luxurious interior. Of course not all towns and cities can afford y desde Tortosa para el sur es fácil encontrar en el medio del pueblo casas así:
La puerta ha resistido más que la roca:
Una bicicleta que nadie robaría, con candado.
No parecía haber nadie en el pueblo, aunque se escuchaban disparos de rifle en el bosque cercano. La caza es en muchas partes uno de los entretenimientos preferidos de los pueblos, aunque suele estar muy limitada a unas pocas semanas del año y a una zona determinada, destinada a eso, con conejos y perdices a los que let them live peacefully in the year to die after a few days of a perdigonazo. Then he removed the bullets and eat.
climbed to the highest point of town.
hard to see in Barcelona and clouds. The sky is either clear or covered with dark clouds shapeless. Sometimes I miss the interesting skies like this:
I also noticed that the old part of town is not surrounded by newer buildings. Suspect Valderrobres population is decreasing year after year, as happens in many rural villages.
We entered a castle
This was the kitchen of the castle. Huge and surrounded by ovens.
Descending towards the river and passed by an old laundry. I guess until a few decades, women could see the people gathered there.
It was late, and try to find a place to eat. Teruel has a good reputation for its hearty meals and freshness of their food. In fact, the next night would bring us fresh olives removed from the tree, which I brought back childhood memories. More precisely, when I took the field, adults were distracted and then I eat any shit was green and round. In Spain there is a huge variety of olives, but these, so raw, they were professionals. Of course, the waiter brought them to the best of spirits to try them, accompanied by some excellent olives of Aragon died, and was so nice we went every night to eat there and do work.
In any case, eran las 3 y teníamos hambre. Después de entrar a varios restaurantes, descubrimos por qué la ciudad estaba desierta. Todos estaban comiendo, al parecer desde hacía horas. Al final encontramos una mesa al sol en algo que parecía uno de esos chiringuitos para comer algo al salir de la discoteca, pero la comida también era muy buena, y parecían servir las olivas por kilos.
Media hora después, fuimos en coche hasta Beceite, donde hay que dejar el auto lejos del pueblo y entrar caminando por el puente:
Por algún motivo que desconozco, las construcciones antiguas suelen ser muy sólidas, pero when building above a street, all supported on some logs of wood. So no wonder the issue is a bit deformed.
The most conserved is the people most likely to meet virgins in the streets. Of the nuns, of course, that's what I love Laura MTV was a joke.
One feature that unites the Catalans with the rest of Spain is to place flowers on the balconies, especially geraniums. I think an excellent custom, and since a couple of summers I do the same.
An hour later, at that place whose name I forget Teruel, We saw people very excited and heading en masse to an open field. When we arrived I was surprised to see for the first time in my life to a bull surrounded by drunks. I went with the bull, but the truth is I was not very aggressive. The table, which was drunk, he fell in front of the animal, which looked almost, almost with pity.
The event had something of initiation, passage to adulthood. The participants were all the same age, and children in the stands watching with fear in their eyes, not because they feared that something serious happened, but they seemed to know that, in order to become men, in a few years they would be there, playing the pride slept with a bull.
The central plaza appeared to me a clear example of horror vacui of many nationalisms. I believe that when a people lose their identity, a place full of flags is a refuge. Just in case he and other English flags that could be the Catalan, Valencian, or Teruel (I mean those of many horizontal stripes).
A very old house, and inhabited. Under an arch is preserved. Probably the street was a couple of feet below at the time construction began. This is quite normal, because the sooner you wanted to do something new, striking down the old and was built up, without removing the debris or stones. The Barcelona Museum of History is an excellent walk through the old Barcelona underground, buried at least five feet below the cathedral.
We returned to the B & B.
dined while the villagers gathered around a huge bonfire organized at the corners. Do not roast anything, just burn wood and furniture as if there was no tomorrow. I think it was a local festival, but do not remember which. In this country, never miss a good excuse to celebrate, though curiously not care much to keep the rite, the liturgy of the feast, perhaps because one thing is to keep the tradition and another is being drunk in a corner bed burning your grandmother.
