¡Chorizada en la cooperativa!

It's time for sausages at the village yard and many small bonfires are lit and chorizos and longanizas are cooked and served in pieces of bread by each peña group.

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There were even more people there this year, young, old, everyone.

Are the sausages cooked yet Manalo?

The official peña group photo.

Again this year, there was a band. After the sausages, people visit each peña where they are given a drink such as vodka and tonic. However, on the route it is traditional for the people in the houses to throw water over everyone. Everyone ends up soaking. Great fun. However, we came home and enjoyed a jacuzzi - at least we still ended up soaking but in a rather more relaxing situation!

Crumbs - it's migas!

So the village fiesta of Torre del Compte 2009, has begun. On Tuesday 11th we all arrived at the peña, (after our art class), and gave it a clean and on Friday 14th we went shopping to buy the drink and some food for the celebrations.

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Tuesday evening was our first meal together and it was the "traditional" dish of migas, which literally means "crumbs". Essentially it is the traditional dish of the shepherd who has old bread and some belly pork both of which are finely shredded and fried in a pan with olive oil, not forgetting the garlic of course.

After a lot of very strenuous stirring it is served topped with a fried egg - very satisfying for even the most ravenous shepherd.

A day out to Ortells...

It had been a long time coming but we finally got around to having a day out with Floyd and Jordi to see a monastery and have lunch at a restaurant in Ortells, 76 kms from Torre del Compte to the south west.

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We arrived at the monastery just north of Zorita del Maestrazgo only to find it was closed for refurbishment. It had been a monastery and then converted into a café so what would it be after the refurbishment?

That's the monastery behind us, being refurbished.

However, it was in a superb spot and the views were worth the visit.

So we settled for a walk around the village of Zorita instead where, just as with any other medieval village around here, there was plenty of rebuilding work going on.


And so to Casa Ramón and a very special lunch which was well worth the journey as the meats, steak and pork, were cooked to our liking, (by ourselves), on a very hot stone, or as Casa Ramón says, "Especialidad en carnes a la piedra".

I can still smell and hear the sizzle of the meat. Delicious!

We're in the newspaper yet again!

On Saturday evening, after the meal and Lina Morgan performance, we had been invited to the opening of an art exhibition being staged by our friend Andrea. It was in the museum of Juan Cabré in the nearby village of Calaceite. Juan Cabré was the the famous archeologist, born in Calaceite, who led the excavation of the Iberican settlement next to the village in the early 1900's.

To see the article full size, click left on it.

Andrea's work is amazing, she has been very busy this year producing so many new paintings. The museum is an excellent venue for art work to be exhibited, it all looked wonderful!

Birthday lunch and Paüls

It has been a very busy, but most enjoyable weekend this weekend. It really started on Friday when we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary with an outing to Benicarlo for the day. On Saturday we had the womens' lunch followed by the "Lina Morgan" sketch and Andrea's art exhibition in the evening. On Sunday we saw the contemporary dancing at Valderrobres. To finish off the 4-day weekend, we have celebrated my birthday by having a day out to Tortosa for lunch then to the village of Paüls, (pronounced Par-uulz), in the afternoon.

Wot, no chips!

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Paüls is tucked away in the mountains or Els Ports as they are known, 9 km from the main road. It is not a village you go through because it is at the end of the road! However, it is certainly worth a visit as it is so picturesque...

...and the view from the top of the village is amazing.

It is also very tranquil with only the sound of goat bells clanking in the distance.

On the way back, on the other side of the mountains, I couldn't resist taking this view, or rather 3 views, which have been stitched together. Breathtaking scenery at it's best!

Contemporary dancing at Valderrobres castle.

This evening we went to see a performance of contemporary dance in Valderrobres castle.

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Each performance took place in a different part of the castle so we all moved around and sat on the floor or leaned on the wall to watch.

Two of the performances involved pairs of dancers, however, this guy danced with the wall!

Being in the castle really added to the atmosphere.

All of the dancers had lots of energy, hence the lack of sharpness to the pictures as they moved quickly in the fading light.


And then outside, the local young group of dancers gave their performances, the first with the castle as the backdrop...

...and the second dance on top of a hill. All thoroughly entertaining.

Yet another meal for the "mujeres"!

It's Saturday afternoon and the women of the village of Torre del Compte, around 65 of them, have assembled in the hall next to the bar/restaurant for their meal and entertainment.

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The meal is traditionally served by the committee who then perform as can be seen in the photo above, each wearing traditional peasants dress for this song and dance.


So popular was the "Lina Morgan" routine when it was first performed in February this year, that it had been requested to be seen again as part of the entertainment after the meal.

Floyd and Margaret, above, as Lina and Lana. Once again it was very well received!