The man who mistook a hill for an onion

 It is a day where we seem to be climbing and we do, but only 50m, and pass nothing, well almost nothing - but more of that later.


We are in Toledo Province, which has 775,000 people living in it. This makes it the 22nd most populous province of Spain and accounts for 1.5% of the total population.  But first, a restaurant. 



The Restaurante la Serrana is temporarily closed, according to Google. The images are from May 2024 and it seems up and running then.  It is woman owned and LGBTQI+ friendly and a year ago Mila said ‘What a nice place on the road! We went in for coffee and we were pleasantly surprised with how clean and tidy everything was. Can't give a full 5 stars because we didn't stay to eat. However, the staff was attentive and the place was very inviting, especially because of the cleanliness. That's not always easy to find when you are out on the road. We will go back to eat someday soon! ‘  Manuel added around the same time ‘I stumbled upon it by chance for breakfast. I was served by Viviana, charming, friendly, and attentive. I intended to have lunch on my return, but I didn't make it before 4:00 PM, which is when the kitchen closes. I'm yet to try the €12 menu… Highly recommended. ‘



Back to Toledo.  Of the top 20 municipalities. Toledo has 87,000 inhabitants, Talavera 84,000.  We then drop to a couple in the 30k range and almost half have 10k or less.



Usually I would skip lightly over ‘culture’ - let each town claim its own however I then saw the Onion Flag Dance.  This is a translation. It is disappointly the flag dance of the town of Cebolla - which comes from the Arabic yevayla - meaning small hill or mound.




The smallest municipality is Illan de Vacas.  Eight people live in the 9.15 square kilometers. It appears to have peaked in 1857 - with 248 people and has been around 100 till the 1960s. Don’t be too mournful, only one person lived there in 2011.




That’s it for today. Toledo beckons and why not.



















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A different rooster would crow

Image
  We are pottering along at 91m but will be a mere two by the day’s end.   We are heading for San Vicente de la Barquera. It is one of those places, on a hostile coast, which provided a safer shelter.  As a consequence it got a castle. The place did the usual having Bronze Age chaps loafing about. The Romans made a small port.  It really got going when Alfonso I sent peoples to populate it in the 8th century. The castle was built, the town followed.  Things really got going in 1210 when Alfonso VIII gave the place a charter.  It got the same privileges as San Sebastian. Castro Urdiales, Santander and Laredo.  Along with Laredo, it has not prospered as much.  Fate was not kind.  From the mid 15th century, fires and plagues did not help.  When Charles I visited the town a bullfight was held in his honour.  He fell it at it and had to spend the night at the Convent of San Luis.  The town has a website.  https://aytosanvicente...
Read more

Life in the Socialist Citadel

Image
  We are wandering a bit around tracks that are not in the ken of streetview. El Burgo Ranero is one of those places with newly kempt squares and tidy houses next to wastes and scrubs. It always struck me with Spain they had so much land they could afford to be a little cavalier with its use. The tidying up has started but is never in control. El Burgo Ranero has 841 or 647 inhabitants [depends on which nations wiki pages you go on, a flag which announces it is on the camino and a website.  https://www.aytoelburgoranero.es/  It is under the thrall of the PSOE. I must admit, as a humble Deputy Chair of a Parish Council I really like the fact their town council has a Mayor-President, a 1st Deputy Mayor, a second Deputy Mayor and a single ‘Councillor’ from the the PSOE. They also have two Popular Party councillors and one from the UPL. We start near the train station. Jose Manuel Martinez Gil is not a fan. ‘Bad, in poor condition, with terrible parking, and it is not in the ...
Read more

The Frontier is marked

Image
  It is Twelfth Night but who needs to know this. Tomorrow is the key day for us i Spain.  Let us head one towards the Murcian border.  The road is a bit similar. It does feel like a 70s cartoon, where Scooby runs down a corridor which is eerily the same. We will pass the Univeridad Miguel Hernandez.  A week ago Valor wrote ‘ It's okay, a bit old-fashioned but a good place to study for a degree’.  Time to move on. What every University needs is an expresso bar.  Planta Baja fulfils that need. Fernando felt ‘A very cozy place with very friendly staff. If you like darts, this is the place for you. Great coffee and great cocktails. 100% recommended.’ and why not. Well, we have been building up to Murcia for sometime and now we are here.  To be honest, I was expecting a sign. I wasn’t expecting a couple of columns.  This is what we want!  Let every land connection between Suffolk and Essex be bestowed with pillars.  May any bridge which join...
Read more