Good People and Fast

 The Avenida de Zaragoza is what the N-420 is called in Valdeltormo and we will pop in to the Talleres 4 Hermanos car shop.  It has 3 reviews.  Seven years ago Ruben said 5 stars, Good people and fast.  Five years ago Rafael just gave 5 stars and three years ago CVP gave three stars.



We are on the long slog.  We rise 120m today, to 544m above sea level.  Some crops and groves hang around the road, which is often cut into the rock.




To the south of us is the Mas del Labrador - we can see the dome poking away in the distance.  The first existing records of the "Mas" date back to 1646, when the town had 90 residents, and to 1787, when it had 121. In 1834, the town was an independent municipality with its own town hall. Around 1915, José Pellicer, the town's parish priest, converted the parish house into a religious school with a boarding school for about 30 students.



The Spanish Civil War severely affected the population. The consequences of this conflict were intense bombing and the destruction of many of the buildings, which were never rebuilt due to the emigration of many of the residents to the surrounding towns in the following years. The village numbered 56 in 1930, 27 in 1940 and 16 in 1950.  By 1962 no one was there.

Currently, the only building that remains in a good state of preservation is the Church of San Juan Degollado, an 18th- century  neoclassical building with a quadrangular bell tower and the vestry and graveyard at the rear. In recent years, the tradition of organizing a pilgrimage to this church at the end of August has been revived.



The town was finally abandoned by its last residents in the 1960s as rural Spain headed off to the towns for better opportunities.  We will also head off in a Teurel themed pilgrimage.









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