Got a phone call from Jordi this morning inviting us to join him and Floyd with Rosi and Pablo with their friends from Valdealgorfa who were camping by the river in a nice shady spot just outside our village. Although this was very short notice we knew what to expect as it would be just the same as last year when we did something similar.
Every year for the last 5 years Rosi and Pablo's friends, around 3 families, come from their village of Valdealgorfa to camp in the same spot. Valdealgorfa, by the way, is about 15 minutes from us. They set up their tents and a long table with side benches which is inside a netted area to keep the flies away. The very large net is one of those for gathering up the olives after they have been beaten from the trees at harvesting time in December and is very effective at creating a "no-fly" zone so that you can eat in the open air without being disturbed.
Last year we had a paella - this year there was a change to the menu and we had a stew of potato, bits of lamb and caracols, (snails), (freshly caught from the surrounding woods), and artichoke hearts.
Here's Floyd and me sitting inside the large netted area waiting for the snail stew to be served...
...and Margaret with tents.
"More snails for me please Rosi!"
And the legend of the Spanish Robin Hood is born.
I have eaten better/different snails, (in France already out of their shells and individually cooked in the oven with garlic butter), but these were quite tasty! What will they cook up for us next year? - possibly crickets or water rats if they could catch them!
One of the highlights of this city is the Cathedral which stands on the highest point.
