A GASTRONOMIC FESTIVAL

To celebrate the asparagus harvest our local hotel, Cortijo de Tajar, is holding a gastronomic weekend. Its restaurant, which is regarded as one of the best in the area, is offering 3 course dinners with 3 choices per course. Every dish includes locally grown asparagus and produce from the area. For example, one first course is crunchy cakes of langostine and green asparagus; a second course is lamb from the Sierra de Loja stuffed with asparagus and a pudding course is vanilla ice cream with asparagus marmalade. The cost is €32 per head but includes an aperitif, wines from the region, liquors and coffee.

At midday on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the hotel is offering a tasting of local wines, cheeses and tapas. For information about the hotel have a look at their web site www.cortijodetajar.es.

Today, Saturday, we attended the wine and tapas tasting. The wines were from the Bodegas Pago de Almaraes in the north west of Granada. Their white, elaboarated mainly with Muscatel grapes was superb and has won a gold medal. We shall visit the vineyard later and report in more detail. www.bodegaspagodealmaraes.es

Also on display for sampling were the vegetable marmalades from Casa Rufino, Huétor Tájar. The marmalades are produced from asparagus, artichokes, red peppers, beetroot and tomatoes. www.mermeladascasarufino.com.
We were also served with the most delicious tapas prepared in the hotel’s kitchen.

VIERNES SANTO

Viernes Santo, Good Friday, is the most holy day in the Spanish Catholic calendar. All towns and villages have their processions during Semana Santa, Holy Week, but in Loja the Easter processions are amongst the most significant in Andalucia.

This morning the most important procession of the week started from the Ermita de Jesús and followed the narrow streets of the old town to the main church of Santa Maria de la Encarnación. Semana Santa in Loja is distinguished by its famous “Incensarios” ( incense carriers ) - groups of eight men who, in reverence to the images, perform an extraordinary dance comprising graceful curtseys punctuated by stampings. Their elegant costumes, one group in white and others in black, are crowned by tall, conical, richly beaded hats. The waving of incense is accompanied by haunting songs, very Arabic in influence, demonstrating the fascinating mix of Islam and Christianity which is so typical of this part of Spain.

The statue of Santa Marcela, which led the procession, was followed by the statue of Jesús carrying his cross, accompanied by Roman centurions resplendent in purple and gold. The images of the saints were followed by drummers, a band, penitents with covered faces and tall, black, conical hats and others from the participating “hermanidads”. The Virgen de la Angustias, adorned with white flowers, was the final image to be paraded.

The procession, which lasts all day, makes a circular tour of the town and we watched it from the main church and the Plaza Constitución. Although a solemn occasion, it was a quite spectacular event and full of colour beneath a cloudless blue sky.

ASPARAGUS

As I mentioned before, the vega around Huétor Tájar and Loja is renowned for the production of asparagus. The harvest has now started and yesterday we called in at one of the many co-operatives, where they were packing it, to buy a bunch. The variety grown here is special to the area and is green asparagus. There is espárrago verde and espárrago morado, which has a slimmer stem. The price was 5 euros a kilo, which was good value, and it was so fresh that you could eat the whole stem.

I cooked the asparagus by covering it with a little water and putting it into the microwave for a few minutes. When it was tender, I seasoned it and added some butter. It was succulent and delicious and better than any asparagus I’d ever tasted before.

Now that Spring has arrived and the rains have stopped, the countryside is a hive of activity. As well as the asparagus harvest being in full swing, farm workers are busy planting, ploughing and weeding before the Easter weekend. We were able to take some good photos in th Spring sunshine over the last couple of days.

SEMANA SANTA DE LOJA

As it is an historic town with eight churches and chapels. Holy Week is a significant event in Loja.and has been designated as being of important touristic interest by the Junta de Andalucia.
The processions start tomorrow evening, 26th March, with the Hermanidad de la Santísma Virgen de los Dolores from the Iglesia de Santa Catalina and continue for a week. The most significant one is Hermanidad de Ntro. Padre Jesús Nazareno which starts from the Ermita de Jesús Nazareno at 1030 on Good Friday and parades through the town visiting all the major churches and returning to the Ermita at 19.30. www.jesusnazarenoloja.com
We hope to post some photos next week.

BACK ROAD TO LOJA

This morning we drove along the country lane from our nearest village, La Fabrica, to Loja. A very pleasant drive through the vega – the flat plain surrounded by mountains – and probably quicker than going into Huétor Tájar and joining the motorway. It was a lovely, warm and sunny Spring morning and stopped to take these photos on the way. One is of workers in a field of artichokes near La Fabrica and the other is of Loja from the northern side of the Rio Genil.
After some shopping in Loja we called in one of the jeans factories. There are several of these here and you can buy very good quality jeans at the factory shops for around 15 euros.

MARKET DAY IN HUÉTOR TÁJAR

Even in winter the Tuesday market in Huétor Tájar is colourful and today’s welcome sunshine brought it to life. Fruit and veg, spices, sweets, shoes, clothes, leather goods and much more can be bought here at bargain prices. You will notice very few Northern European faces amongst the crowds but quite a few native South American. This is because some years ago there was large scale immigration here from Bolivia as labour was required for the asparragus plantations.

MONTEFRIO

Today is a public holiday to celebrate yesterday’s Dia de Andalucia and we decided to take an outing to the historic town of Montefrio about 20 minutes drive to the north. One brief visit is not enough to take in everything there is to see in this fascinating place. An Arab fortress crowns a precipitous rock beneath which the oldest buildings of the town are clustered. Climbing the steep, narrow streets, we kept coming upon intriguing corners with glimpses of the distant panorama. No shortage of subjects to paint or photograph in this most picturesque of Andalucian towns.