Village Street

Another day of exploring the village and the fields beyond.  As it's builtl on a mountain side, the tiny fields are terraced and bounded by rough stone walls.  The main crop is cherries, and at this time all the trees are covered with blossom.  Such a wonderful show that folk come from as far away as Japan to see them!  
 
This is a very typical street in the village, traditionally the animals lived downstairs and the humans upstairs.  People kept pigs and fattened them on kitchen scraps, and the doors had little pop holes for hens to come in and out of. 
 
There used to be a lot of goats and donkeys, but there are a lot fewer of these now.  The older people aren't able to look after animals, taking them up and down the mountain, and the young ones mostly live in Madrid and only come back for holidays and to visit family.  Now there are less than 1000 people living here.
 
My sister-in-law is full of great stories of growing up here and the tales her parents told her of their early lives here.  We have seen where her mother used to wash her clothes in the river and where her father gathered cherries and carried them home, protected with layers of bracken, in panniers on his donkey.  

Fascinating sights every way you turn!  No right angles or level ground anywhere to be seen, those are the joys of living on a hillside - it's great exercise for your calf muscles too!