The Legion and the season of sleep

 We are crossing one of those functional little replacement bridges which connect somewhere near not quite somewhere else.  We are entering Villalba Baja.  I think we need to say something here as the poor pueblo only has a wiki page in Spanish and that is a bit lacking in detail.  To support this bold statement let me put forward the following.  The town demographics graph ends, not in 2020, but 1970/  At the time the population was 314, having fallen from the 400-500 it had been for the last 130 years.  In 2012 it was but 187.



The GSHD has much to say in the 19th century.


VILLALVA BAJA: with town hall in the province, diocese and Jewish part of Teruel (1 1/2 leg.), territorial authority of Zaragoza and central Aragon. Situated on a plain on the right bank of the Alfambra River ; the climate is mild and healthy. It consists of 119 well-built houses with some amenities, forming a population body with clean and well-aligned streets. It has a boys' school and a girls' school, both moderately crowded; a parish church (San Miguel) served by a second-class priest with regular supplies, and a well-situated cemetery. The area borders on the N. with Peralejos; E. Corbalan and Tortajada; S. Concud, and W. with the previous one and Caudete. The waters of the aforementioned river fertilize some lands and drive a flour mill. The land is mostly flat and irrigated, with dry land good for rye; towards the Corbalan side there are some pines and scrubland. Roads : the one from Teruel goes up to Montalban and the neighboring ones. Mail is received from Teruel twice a week. Products : wheat, barley, rye, oats, vegetables and fruits; there is sheep and cattle, and hunting of rabbits, hares and partridges. Industry : agricultural and several linen looms. Pop .: 120 residents, 478 livestock. Tax value : 50,062 rs.




Google features such important features as the play equipment and bus stop. [six reviews, 4 stars, Juanjo said ‘The Minimum’ and ose added ‘Veryquiet.’  The Bar restaurante Legionario only gets three Google reviews and 3.3 stars.  A year ago Aaaa may have stretched the laws with his review, suggesting that a legionnaire no longer ran the place and suggested this loss was a bit of a rum do,   The other two are four stars from longer ago.   I can’t find anything else out at present.




We will trudge south passing some more relics of the railway age.  Asun sums up the station well ‘Ruins of the station without any conservation. Difficult access due to the environment full of bushes and wild vegetation. Still retains a lot of charm. They call it the season of sleep’


















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