Stories of the Victorious, ancient Counts of Barcelona


 What luck! A bar, and us on the very edge of thirst.  Let us pop into El Cristo and see what happened.  It is woman owned, LGBTQ+ friendly and gets 4.1 stars.  We are early, it opens at 7am and closes at 5pm. It seems to be at its most busy in the afternoon.  I don’t normally go for the ‘most relevant’ review but the newest one, but today I will make an exception.  Two years ago Jeff said ‘Fantastic cafe/bar pull-off from the A23. We were in two motorhomes and pulled in for morning coffees and 'Valencianas' - try them if you haven't. Great coffee, really friendly service and plenty of parking. Lovely place to stop. The food looked good too!’  



Antonio said this four days ago. ‘We just stopped to refuel with a group from the BMW Touring Motorcycle Club of Spain. I've got it on my calendar to go for lunch the first time I get there. I thought it was a very nice place right off the road with good parking, even covered. Thank you so much for your service. Toni from Barcelona. V, sss…’



We are heading past Viver. I say past, I will get lost and start to enter the town before turning back on the right road.  The towns population is about 1500. This half what it was at its peak in 1950. It has a bad 1920s, a good 1940s and has recovered a little from the nadir of 1200 in 1991.  https://viver.es/  The place has been a PSOE stronghold since 1983, with brief PP moments in 1999-2003 and 2015-2019.  The current mayor is Vicente Ferrer Ripollés  He has recorded a message for us - which can be found here https://viver.es/ayuntamiento/   The ton has a facebook page, which I’ve liked, so you don’t need to.  https://www.facebook.com/VivirViver 



The place has fiestas and diverse celebrations. I think we have missed the Olive Oil festival.  It has a hymn, dedicated to San Franciso de Paula - for whom they have a church.  It goes like this:


You rose magnificently to the heights of glory and virtue, the pious multitudes seek your paternal solicitude.


You are the sweet and holy Patriarch, who never ceases to love and intercede under the aegis of your new mantle, it beats with love, it beats with love to LIVE.


You rose... Beloved Saint, light of your children, of their enchanted souls, under your mantle of loving profusion they want to live, under your mantle they want to live.


Listen tenderly to their prayers, their prayers, they are their feelings, and make them love you in sweet calm and save, save, save their souls... when they die.


You rose..



While we are at it Historian Francisco Diago was born here in 1562.  He obtained a doctorate and a chair in Theology and carried out various historical studies including: History of the life and miracles, death and disciples of Saint Vincent Ferrer (1600); Stories of the Victorious, ancient Counts of Barcelona (1603) - presumably missing out on the also rans; Annals of the Kingdom of Valencia (1613). He died on23rd  May 1615, at the age of 53, having been appointed by Philip III a year earlier as chief chronicler of the Crown of Aragon. I am not sure if there is any connection. 


So we push on.  Yet another settlement tomorrow.

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