Morella- High Altitudes and Low Temps

About two weeks ago (the day before the infamous flood), Maria Jose, her daughter Micaela and I set out for a town called Morella. I agreed to come because there was a castle, and because what the heck else would I do on a chilly Valencian Saturday.  The night before, I received a text that warned me: "Dress Warm" Crap. Chelsea and cold are not friends.

So I layered up. Tank top, long sleeve shirt, sweater, "heavy" coat, gloves, hat, and most importantly: UGG boots.

The trip to Morella took about 2 hours with a pit stop in San Mateo for goat cheese and coffee.

Here we also saw an old what i like to call: "laundromat". It is where women used to (and maybe sitll) come to do their laundry. There were two pools of water, one for soap, and one to rinse. The edges of the pools had little grooves to scrub the dirt off your clothes. This is also where town gossip was held.

 

When we arrived in Morella, we just strolled around, looked in some little shops where we sampled Morella's gourmet items like honey, cheese, and Mistela wine.

We continued with a delicious lunch filled with TOO much food. Bull serrano, green bean salad, foi/mushroom crepes, steak with black truffles and peppers, and so much more. I definitely had to loosen up my belt after this lunch.

Afterwords, it turned out there was a reinactment going on! How fun (and cold!)  People were dressed in their spanish Zoro like capes singing and dancing to the Morellan jig in their Morellan shoes and outfits. Following them were kids with brooms who would "persecute" you by chasing you with the broom and tapping you on the head with it.

There were also people symbolizing the Spanish revolution, one set of "rebels" who carried contraband with them, villagers making sausages, thieves, and lastly followed by policeman after the thieves and those with contraband.

Now mind you, it is very cold, and these people were outside quite a while. How do they keep warm? Mistela wine and beer of course. They purposefully stopped at every bar in town, and the bartenders/owners would supply them with free toasty beverages and they continued drinking their whole treck through town.

At this point due to my lack of mistela consumption, I was freezing and we left Morella with ganas of being back in somewhat warmer Valencia. And on the way to the car I spotted Ice! My first ice sighting in SPAIN!