Thu, May 19 Exploring Back Roads

Thu, May 19 - We had agreed to meet Hilary at 8 AM, but when I woke up it was already 7:40, so we rushed around and got together a little late. The sky was completely overcast, but brightened a little at breakfast. The Parador has a great buffet breakfast with eggs and bacon for Bob, five kinds of cheeses for me and breads and jams and quiche bites for Hil.

We set off at around 9:45 with the plan of driving to the Parc Natural Els Ports de Beseite and walking a trail near the summit of Mt. Caro, the highest mountain to the west at 4600 feet. We drove to the base of the mountain through old olive groves, past long-abandoned terraces and ascended through spectacular scenery of spires, buttes, mesas, and gorges with extensive forests of pine and oak until finally climbing into the clouds.

  In fog and light rain Hil spotted a deer-like shape in the road which turned out to be Spanish Ibex! We think it was a female and/or immature as she showed little fear and only had short horns. She moved to the side of the road., and stood about 20’ away while we watched her for a while. What a thrill! We drove on as the clouds got denser and finally reached the top, but it was obviously hopeless to think of hiking so we turned around and Hil drove very slowly and cautiously down until we finally got below the clouds.

We decided to plot a drive over back roads to Horta de Sant Joan, a little village where Picasso stayed and studied as a teenager, then make a big loop through the mountains actually touching Aragón and Valencia before returning to Tortosa in Catalunya.

We had to backtrack to the Ebro River, heading north and then west through rolling agricultural land until we reached the turn off to Horta. We climbed up into the town and found a place to park the car before the streets got too narrow for comfortable driving. We walked up into the attractive old part of town with wonderful views overlooking the surrounding countryside including the Convent of Sant Salvador at the foot of a low but rugged mountain, Muntanya de Santa Bàrbara.

  We found the attractive Picasso museum, with exhibits about the artist who spent several years painting and studying there from the age of 16 and again in his late twenties and copies of his works done at that time. He supposedly said, “Everything I know about art I learned in Horta”. We arrived at 1 pm and, of course, the museum closes at 1:30 for siesta, so we bought tickets and dashed in to see the three stories of exhibits. It was quite wonderful and inspiring, even if we were very rushed!

We left as the museum closed and went in search of a café, but, unable to find one, downed some of our cookie and chocolate supply and motored on. A short distance beyond Horta I spotted a small church and Hilary managed to make a u-turn and drive right up to it. The sign said it was the Ermita de Santa Madrona, a lovely little building in the middle of an olive grove and wild flowers that allowed us to stretch our legs a bit.

We continued on through impressive higher mountains covered with forest and farms, now and then encountering an exquisite hill town each with an imposing church. The limestone strata wind and curve on the hillsides beautifully and may have inspired Gaudí in designing his buildings! We stopped on a mountainside to study a dazzling variety of colorful wild flowers, comparable to any display in California.


Finally at six we returned to the Parador and walked around the grounds a bit to photograph the great views of the cathedral and adjacent tile roofs as the clouds finally diminished.

We have to leave tomorrow, but haven’t really had time to explore the sights right here in town! We met for drinks at 8 and then went in to dinner where we managed to order without being overwhelmed by the quantity of food. Bob and Hil had veal steaks with mustard sauce and I had venison with broiled apples and beets and we all shared a dessert of pastry, cream and chocolate sauce.