20th June

When we were sitting in our courtyard in Tuscany we thought we had it all.  Then when we moved on to the little apartment on the top floor in Aix en Provence we thought it just couldn’t get any better.  And now we are sitting on our patio of Casa Arriba, the house at the top of the village, overlooking the Pyrenees and we can’t believe we could ever have a better view.  How lucky are we?

Today we went to the fresh produce market in Graus and then attempted to walk from Torres del Obispo to Castarlenas, an abandoned village about a 2 hour return walk.  From our Casa Arriba we can actually see both these villages, that’s how high our home is.  Problem is we could find the start of the walk but not one other marker to assure us we were on trail.  We faltered back and forth for some time and then decided that since it was now getting close to the hottest part of the day it was pretty silly to start such a walk even if we did find it, so like the village, we abandoned the plan. 

Instead we decided to go to Barbastro for lunch.  The road took us along the bottom of a canyon where the cliffs were outstanding and the water that milky-blue you get from melting glaciers.  Kees had recommended a restaurant where everything on the menu was not only good but typically of this region and great value.  Seems he is correct.  They only have a set price menu. For 14 Euro you select a 3 course meal with complimentary bottle of local wine.  The Spanish eat their main meal at lunchtime between 1 and 3pm and then have a siesta that lasts until about 5pm.  Vegetables are served as a first course and meat as the second course.  Eric worked hard with the phrase book interpreting the menu and we were very happy with our selection.  Only problem was driving home after sharing a whole bottle of red wine.  We retired to the garden room to read and both dozed off soon after.  About 5pm we went for a walk to look for birds in the direction of the main spring that feeds this village.  We started on the village walking path that has probably been in existence since the medieval days then skirted wheat fields, almond orchards and olive groves all with plenty of birds.  I picked some pretty wildflowers along the way for our balcony, some I recognise, but can’t remember the names of, from our Cobram cottage garden but also found wild rosemary and thyme (and Patison’s Curse of all things).  Saw our first Hoopoe today. And here we are, after 9pm on our balcony in shorts and t-shirts waiting for the sun to go down on another great day.  Eric took a photo of last light about 10pm.

(Note: Sandy called from Barcelona, we were due to meet her tomorrow but the airlines have lost her baggage, so we await further updates with our fingers crossed that all will be fine by the morning).