Showing posts with label Via Verde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Via Verde. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Anne and Clive visit

We met Anne and Clive in 1970 when Margaret and Anne taught at the same school. We have kept in touch even when they moved to Canada a few years later.


This was their first ever visit to Spain and we were able to show them parts of the real Spain which exist around us.


A visit to our neighbouring village of La Fresneda and the ermita were first on the agenda so they could see our village across the Matarraña valley.


One of the most important things when you visit Spain is to enjoy the food. We did plenty of this and lunch that day was at one of our favourite restaurants, Fonda Angeleta in Valderrobres.


After lunch, a walk up to the castle...


...and then a walk around our own village of Torre del Compte.


Next day, a journey through the mountains down to our other house at Vinaròs...


...stopping off at L'Antic Molí for lunch.


We didn't actually have a BBQ, we were just posing...


...but we did visit the harbour...


...and Anne had a paddle in the Mediterranean.


Lunch was at the Hotel Rey Don Jaime in Morella...


...followed by a walk around the town.


Next day, Sunday, a visit to the viaduct which carried the railway from Tortosa to Zaragoza but now is a Via Verde, a walking/cycle track, through the Val de Zafán, ...


...with lunch al fresco.


Our excursion on Monday took us to the Torre Cremada, an Iberican lookout tower built 4 centuries BC where they could signal warnings of possible attack to other communities,...


...the Greenwich Meridian line which passes very close to us,...



...the beautiful ermita of Santa Barbara at Valdealgorfa,...


...lunch at Restaurante Meseguer in Alcañiz...


...followed by coffee at the Parador.


To round off the day, the last supper of the visit. Hopefully Anne and Clive will return as there is much more to see!

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Friends stay for an extended birthday celebration.

Elena, Diego and their 2 daughters, Irene, 10, and Claudia, 6, came to my birthday meal on the 3rd August but as they came some distance, they are our neighbours at Vinaròs, they stayed with us for 3 nights so we could show them the local area.


On the Thursday morning we visited the ermita at La Fresneda...


...and then to Valderrobres...


...for a very good lunch at Fonda Angeleta.


After lunch a visit to the castle, museum and church then in the evening a walk around the village of Torre del Compte.


Friday we started by visiting the Torre Cremada, the Burning Tower, a local Iberian lookout post for the nearby settlement some 2,500 years old.


In the photo above we are standing on the site of the Torre Cremada so that you can see the village of Torre del Compte between us and the railway bridge, now part of the Via Verde, to the right of Elena, Diego and Irene.


Next up, a visit to the Iberican settlement at Calaceite with the ermita de San Cristobal in the background.


On the way to Alcañiz we crossed the Greenwich Meridian, another photo opportunity..


...with one foot on the line and the other in either the eastern or the western hemisphere.


Lunch in Luthiers, one of our favourite restaurants...


...followed by a walk up to the Parador for coffee.



Back to Torre del Compte for...


...games in the evening...


...and as you can see, there are...


...a couple of potential sports girls here!


Supper.


Saturday morning and we go to Morella.


You can't visit this region without coming here...


...and lunch at the Hotel Rey Don Jaime before exploring the village in the afternoon.

A thoroughly enjoyable stay and a great way to extend my birthday celebrations!