Mushrooms!

It's the mushroom season! Yesterday our friend Fernando brought us this lovely collection of setas which he had collected from the surrounding area.

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Last night they were chopped up, fried in a little olive oil then added to an omelette for our supper. They were delicious - really "meaty".

And we are still here today to tell the tale!

El bautizo de Gabriela

Midday at the ermita de San Juan in Torre del Compte and the christening party trek up from the village.

Es mediodía en la ermita de San Juan en Torre del Compte y el grupo del bautizo camina desde el pueblo.

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For once it is a little overcast with quite a fresh brisk wind.

Por una vez está un poco nublado y hace un viento fresco.

Gabriela is not too concerned about all the fuss...

Gabriela no está demasiado preocupada por todo el alboroto ...

...but wonders what is going on when someone starts pouring water over her head.

...pero se pregunta qué está pasando cuando alguien comienza a verter agua sobre su cabeza.

The music group and choir are in full flow...

El grupo de música y el coro están actuando ...

...but mass at church can be so boring unless you can find other things to entertain you.

... pero la misa puede ser muy aburrida a menos que puedas encontrar otras cosas para entretenerte.

A posed photo...

Una foto posada ...

...and another. There aren't many "tie wearing" occasions around here.

...y otra. No hay muchas ocasiones para llevar corbata por aquí.

The family pose for their photo...

La familia posa para su foto ...

...and Gabriela, having found the whole experience rather exhausting, tries to take a quick nap in the arms of the proud grandmother.

... y Gabriela, cansada después de toda la experiencia, intenta echarse una siesta en brazos de su orgullosa abuela.

With many thanks to Raquel for helping with the Spanish translation.

To the Zaragoza fayre...

It's 8:30 and we set off on the coach with a group of pensionistas from our village to Zaragoza picking up other groups as we pass through a couple of neighbouring villages.

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This current feria, or fayre, is the 70th general fayre and runs from the 9th - 17th of October. Wednesday, the day we were there, was a special day for the more senior visitors with some special events and entertainment designed for them.

The buildings themselves are enormous with 9 pavilions as well as a main auditorium.


Events were also taking place outside such as this display by the parachute team.


Inside two pavilions were displays by local garages of new and second hand cars.


The food hall was packed with people and local produce of every description was on display...

...resulting in displays of some very colourful sweets,...

...bottles of herb liqueur,...

...baskets with the raw ingredients,...

...tea flavours to cure all ills,...

...more nuts and seeds than your average vegetarian would ever require,...

...and for the non-vegetarian, samples of fuet, and other various sausages.

After a hearty, meaty lunch with wine and cava, it was back to the main hall for some rousing jotas.

No one was going to drop off to sleep when this group were singing!

Further entertainment came in the form of magic acts,...

...traditional singing,...

...and dancing.

In another pavilion the army were putting their dogs through their paces...

...and demonstrating what our dog would do if we didn't feed her!
Another great day out!

Mountains and sea!

We felt it was time for a short break so we decided to have a couple of days in Andorra where the capital of the co-principality is imaginatively called Andorra la Vella, (Old Andorra).

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According to the weather forecast we were to expect rain and temperatures as low as zero at night. However, despite a fresh start in the morning, when this photo was taken, we had relatively clear blue skies and it was quite warm.

The views of the Pyrenees were breathtaking...

...and we didn't see any snow.

Our next stop was at the Parador at Vic-Sau. The hotel is in a wonderful spot overlooking the Sau reservoir and this was the view from our bedroom window.


The following morning the entire valley had filled with mist which gradually burnt off in the heat of the sun.


Only 3 kilometres away down a narrow track is the 11th century Monestir de Sant Pere de Casserrers, St Peter's monastery, which had been restored, along with it's separate restaurant.


No, we didn't go on a helicopter ride to get this aerial photo; it's a photo of a photo on display in the monastery but it shows the sort of area we were in with the monastery in the middle.


Each column in the courtyard had been restored beautifully using original pieces where available.


We then had 2 further nights on the coast at Platja d'Aro, or the "beach of Aro" Unfortunately, the cloudy weather which had been forecast but we had avoided in Andorra caught up with us here but that didn't stop us driving up the Costa Brava to Cadaqués which has strong links with the art world being visited by Picasso, Miró and many others.


We continued our excursion by going to the Cap de Creus, the easternmost point in mainland Spain, passing by the home of Salvador Dali - maybe next time we shall pay it a visit!


Normally you can see right down the coast - today unfortunately, was different - but it looked good.