Rupit

Rupit

We are staying with our friends Liz and John in a small town in the north of Spain in the Pre-Pyrenees. We met Liz and John in Germany when we lived there in 1972 - 74. Liz was a great support to me when Simon was born. They are the sort of friends where you just start again where you left off. The last time we were altogether was walking in the Pilbara in Western Australia in the late 1990s.

Liz and John have two daughters - Joanna and Judith whom we have known since they were very young. We were lucky to coincide with Joanna and her family's last night in Spain on holiday. We met her husband Amir and entrancing children for the first time. A great reunion.

Liz and John are linguists and work as translators and each speak several languages. They are now semi-retired and have put aside the time that we're here to spend with us.

They were in the fortunate position of being able to run their business anywhere that they had access to a computer. After looking around Europe for some time they chose Northern Spain in the village of Rupit and built themselves a house. It seems a very good choice.

The village Church is Baroque in style, dates from 14th Century and was renovated in the 17th century.

John and Liz's house is on a rise and looks out over the medieval village with all the houses built of stone and streets of natural rock. The village has strict building regulations to keep the look of the village uniform.

Rupit is in Catalonia - the northern part of Spain and is about 900 metres above sea level. The locals here are very patriotic. The official language is Catalan although most people also understand Spanish. There is likely to be a referendum for Catalonia to become an independent country in the next few years. They regard themselves as a separate race to the Spanish in the south. After the Spanish Civil War in 1936- 39, during Franco's reign, all things Catalonian were banned - including speaking the language in public and the publication of books in the language.

Liz and John have learnt Catalan and this has been an important part of their being accepted in the village. By the number of people that greet them warmly on the street and kiss them on both cheeks they are accepted although they say it would take another 30 years or so before they'd be considered locals.

Vehicle access to the village is restricted to residents with a parking area outside for visitors. The roads are narrow with this turn above quite sharp. Traffic is controlled by this barrier Bob has his foot on. Residents have a card they can flick to make it go down when they want to get in or out.

Coca is a speciality of the area. It is bread dough, can be up to a metre long and is decorated
with sugar.

We ate at this restaurant above that is owned by friends of John and Liz and has great views over the village.

A small river runs through the gully at the bottom of Rupit.

These waterfalls are a short walk from the town.

We walked to the next village - Tavertet and had lunch. Vultures nest on this cliff. We saw Egyptian and Griffon vultures flying.

Friends of Liz and John's found this old farmhouse in the country in a run down state. They have developed it into a house and accommodation - a huge undertaking. They have built a huge underground carpark. It is in a beautiful area. One of the family - Matthew Parris has written a book about it - "A Castle in Spain."