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Now living in l'Olleria, south of Valencia

Saturday 19 November 2011

Cocentiana Fayre 2011

I can't believe this is our 5th visit to the annual Medieval Fayre at Concentaina. This year, as the morning was spent felling trees, and the afternoon limbing and logging, we didn't even set out until 7pm or so. As we drove towards the town, we noticed lots of traffic comming the other way.

The late visit turned out to be a great idea. Having been so many times before, a simple stroll around was perfectly ok, rather than a long visit to every stall! As it turned out, there weren't many people about at that time, most of them (presumably) having visited earlier in the day, and now on their way home for the evening meal. We had a lovely time wandering around, able to see everyting without being jostled.

No - I'm not expecting Ed to carve anything like this from our trees...


As we entered the Arabic quarter, I noticed a long queue of people at a stall. Curious, I wanted to know what was so good that the people waited in line for it - the spanish don't queue for anything. We got to the stall, and there was nothing there. Just a stall of empty baskets. The people seemed content to wait, so I waited too. Shortly, a man and a woman appeared, carrying a very heavy tub. They heaved it onto a counter and out poured a huge amount of dough. Ah - a fresh bread stall. The lady then began cutting the dough into loaf sized portions, as the man checked the bread already baking in the oven, to make sure the bottoms weren't burnt. We din't want any bread so we moved on, but, from the number of people there, I think that maybe next year we ought to try a loaf.

We did have tea 'on the hoof'. Tuna empanyadas, and a wonderful pie, just like a cornish pasty. It was quite late by the time we left, and many stalls were already dismantling, which was quite a shock. I was hoping to buy an ice-cream or something, but I guess they too had had enough after several days.

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