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Published: September 4th 2017
Not sure whether this will make any sense today as we had an "interesting" night last night after a superb meal when we woke to a thump, thump of music which continued and abated for hours culminating in it getting louder and louder until Mike opened our window to see a sound desk and amplifiers on some sort of float and every young person from Cardona and surrounds parading under our window to a light show and smoke!! The "big" show finished around 1.30am, however the partygoers obviously have tremendous stamina and continued for hours. We wondered what the festival was about only to be told this morning that it was just a rehearsal for the town festival over 4 days next weekend!!!!!! It should be amazing and includes the Cardona running of the bulls. The grandstand has already been set up in a car park so we can imagine it will be pretty special.
Mike is currently having a siesta - his inner Spaniard is rapidly developing.
This morning we went to the Cardona Salt Mine and what a surprise. I am sure many of you have been to salt mines but all I knew was that bad
Russian soldiers were sent to the salt mines in Siberia as a punishment so thought it would be about piles of salt and shovels. Perhaps for them it was but for us it was rather like a visit to Jenolan caves with stalagmites and stalactites of salt and beautiful colours of iron ore in the rocks. We could only take photos outside and in one if the "caves" but it was by far the prettiest - the Sistine Chapel of salt mines. The Salt Mine was in operation from just before 1930 and closed due to economic pressure in 1990 thereby putting nearly 1600 people out of work virtually overnight. The town now relies on tourism for employment and the Mine employs 30 people. Most of the young people now move away for university and work.
We returned to find the local markets underway so bought bread, cheese, Jamon, tomato and peach (singular) and a yummy biscuit type thing which I need to google that seems to be from the Catalan region. There was lots of pointing and smiling and everyone was very helpful.
This afternoon we went to the Cardona castle where, once again, battles were fought,
lost, buildings damaged and rebuilt and lives were wasted In war. There is very little of the original construction left but the church of Saint Vincent is simple but beautiful. The Lords of Cardona were fantastically wealthy because they owned the salt mines and it was a prized commodity. We had been told that there was a concert being held so a group of us decided to stay and listen to four young men and four women sing Spanish and English language songs, their repertoire was right up our alley with Queen, Simon and Garfunkel, etc. Their encore was Hallelujiah!! It was such fun and they were enthusiastic and delightful - probably all music students. We then listened to a local band and watched the local dancing which is amazing - they start with a small circle and anyone can join in - men, women, children. I must research the origin of the dance which had quite intricate foot movements and a couple of people gave commands when to up the tempo. We managed to miss being swept up in the action by pressing against the wall as the circle increased from about 8 to 30 very quickly!!
I
love these unexpected moments and the day finished with tapas in the town square after walking down from the castle to where the commoners would have lived. We know our place.
Off to a stay in a Monastery tomorrow - yikes.
Buenos noches!
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Spain
I've enjoyed reading your last few blogs about your travels in Spain... such varied experiences and landscapes. I especially enjoyed the blog on Dali... I love his work, and I'd have to say he was both a genius and a freak :)