Sierras de Francia

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Today we made our way to our first excursion to the Sierras de Francia. They are beautiful mountains in the north west of Spain. We left Salamanca at 10 and arrived about two hours later in the small villages of the mountains. The mountains got their name from the French influence that took over the villages. The small towns are left in the medieval states with gorgeous photos of scenery waiting to take place. When we first arrived, we went on a little hike down the mountain to a small waterfall. The weather was extremely cold, and most of the ground was muddy. We didn’t go too far because Carlos, our cute guide for the day, saw that one of the girls, Macy, only had flats on. So we went to a secret meat factory in the mountains that is well known for making a certain kind (they say the best in all of Spain) of ham. The owner took us through the three stages of how they produce the ham. For months the pig leg sits in a room full of salt. After the leg has been immersed in salt, it is moved to a huge room and is hung from the ceiling for a couple of years depending on what quality of meat you want. Then, the ham goes to the last stage of being dried in a freezer. For the really good ham, it takes about 5 years to sit. After our tour of the meat factory, we were able to explore the town Alberca. It was a nice, small, and surrounded by nature. After exploring, we made our way back to Salamanca to get ready for our excursion the next day.

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