Ancient towns revisited

By the time I've done some CBS office work, sent some emails, cooked and eaten lunch, it's usually three o'clock if not later. As it's now getting dark around five thirty, there's not much time left either for a walk or exploration of the countryside by car. This afternoon I went north again, crossed over the N340 to re-visit the hill village of Alcanar with its 14-16th century church, with an elegant marble renaissance west entrance portal, and surrounded by streets of old houses in narrow streets.

Use of Catalan in signage and tourism panels and even the festive seasonal lights means I have to work hard to decode their meaning, drawing on my knowledge of French.

There's a grand view of the coastal plain enclosing Vinaros ten kilometres away from a high terrace at the top of the village. This place dates back to Roman times, if not earlier, as is the case with many hill villages in this region. The placa in front of the church has a monument to those killed in the Civil War. It's a restrained reminder of how much conflict there was around here. Alcanar is just inside the Catalunya boundary, the rio Senia. It's also the boundary between the communes of Vinaros and Alcanar. Posters were still about publicising the 9th November poll on holding a referendum urging voters to say 'Yes', which 80% of Catalunyans did.

Hanging from a balcony, I noticed this banner celebrating St Cecilia's whose festival falls today, patroness of music and musicians. Evidently homage from one of her devotees.

I drove on to Ulldecona, past groves of ripening oranges through the valley plain behind the Sierra de Montsia, another small town with a long history and a fine 13th century gothic parish church, on the  ancient trade route from Tortosa to Vinaros.

Despite it being Saturday, I noted a team of Council masons at work replacing threshhold stones at the entrance of the mediaeval Casa de la Vila. I think the building may have once been a convent.

This is another of those settlements with ancient roots. In the limestone cliffs the west of the town is the largest collection of cave paintings found in Catalunya. The town has an intepretation centre for visitors. It expanded with the construction of the railway along the coast in the nineteenth century. There's still a working station here, serving the town and surrounding villages.

The new high speed AVE trains run through to Amposta, Aldea and L'Ampolla on their way to Barcelona.

I didn't have long to look around as the sun was already low in the sky, prompting me to head for home before it became completely dark out there on un-lit rural roads, albeit much safer and well modernised highways compared to a couple of decades ago. While Franco tried to modernise Spain in his own way, through tourism, economic development and social change gained more widespread momentum after his death, and with the growth of the European Community.

Recession has been a huge setback, stopping development in its tracks, leaving many projects abandoned half finished, houses, apartments, shopping centes, the off shore gas storage terminal visible 25km away from local beaches, a regional airport meant to serve coastal resorts around Castellon. Rumour has it that this will be allowed to open shortly, but the story has been around for some time!