The most enchanting, charismatic, wild, bewitching, a little bit barbaric and unconstrained – there is no such country as Spain in one hundred worlds… It is not even a country, but a manifestation of a magic place where people know how to live and enjoy their lives; where a person, having returned home after 3 am, does not go to bed, but goes for a dinner, a place where the hottest month is August.
Here people hardly speak English, but will love you and make friends with you once you say a word in Spanish. Here the freedom of spirit lives, and a new attitude to life emerges, as soon as you catch a glimpse of this beautiful country.
Spanish communality represents a complete contrast to the European individualism, though I should admit, the Spanish love themselves in a truly European way – without limitations. And they have sound reasons for that!
Here you can find small cozy cafes in every patio, where inhabitants from neighboring houses gather in the morning to read El Pais or La Vanguardia and to have a cup of nice cafe con leche (coffee with milk). Here I should make an important notice, that a cup of coffee with milk at this kind of small family cafes costs no more than 1,5 euro, and can rival with the best Italian cafe latte in quality and taste.
Let me now share with you the first glimpse of Anglés – not a cafe con leche, but an evening tea. The whole place preserves this charismatic flavor of old Europe
Evening is undoubtedly the best part of Spanish daily schedule. In the evening the same neighbors meet in the city center for dinner (or better say late lunch) to discuss and gossip, discuss and gossip. Spanish people see nothing disgraceful in discussing and criticizing someone else’s personality, as well as their own. Even a considerable part of Spanish daily tv news is given to gossip a-la the queen was noticed in bikini… What can I say? The country is small and generally safe, and there is not much to discuss in the news besides the economic crisis and separatist movements.
While the meeting point for elderly generation can be the city center for shopping or the same cafe at a neighboring patio, youngsters meet up around 9 pm at some plaza to enjoy ice beer and sometimes fire show (like at the square in front of Catedral de Valencia) and to conduct raids on nightclubs. And in the late evening, when it is already cool and windy in the streets, you sit on the stone steps at this plaza and feel warmth and coziness, feel so good you cannot explain. Warm-heartedness – this is the synonym of Spain where even stones are soft for you.
I visited Spain several times, with my longest stay being two months in Valencia, where I went to improve my Spanish and sleepwalked my way to loving this country. However, the primary subject of my interest have been Catalonia crowned by Barcelona – traditionally the main travel interest for 90% of Russians… Original, isn’t it? That is why not a single word of this post will be devoted to Barna. Neither will I speak about Sitges or Girona which are also authentic and gorgeous in their own way, but this article will be devoted to Anglés – a Catalonian village where I found myself by mistake.
Bright streets of Anglés
No-no, I was not drunk. Being in a hurry I booked a hotel with free transfer to Girona airport, sincerely believing that it was located in Girona… But later on it turned out that not only Girona had a street named Plaza de Catalunya with a hotel at that address… So I had to take a taxi from there and go to uncertainty.
I paid 25 euros to catch a train from Barça to Girona, and then another 25 euros for a taxi to Anglés. And I did not have a single minute of regret for my negligence and spending 50 euros – getting lost brings you to new discoveries which are far more precious than money (of course, on the condition of a positive outcome – if you are not captured, eaten, etc.). Having searched for some information about this ancient village, I sadly realized there is almost nothing provided, not even Spanish sources. So I decided to not let my memories die.
Anglés is an ancient Catalan village, dating back to the XIth century, one of the places where you can still hear the echo of old Spain. It is situated in the North of the country, where the ridge of the gorgeous Pyrenees begins.
The whole place is 12 meters above mean sea level. The hilly landscape of the village together with the narrow winding streets paved with ancient stone create a mystic atmosphere which is so much characteristic of old Europe. The inhabitants’ main occupation till now is livestock agriculture, rainfed farming and textiles.
I’ve started my gallery with the pictures of brightly-colored houses, really enchanting ones. It seems that every single stone here was preserved from the XIth century.
As any patriotic Catalans, the inhabitants of Anglés are proud to hang the national flag of Catalonia on their home balconies… even if no one actually sees them, except their neighbors, who are as much patriotic as they are. Another curious feature is the amount of flower gardens the locals grow on their loggias and balconies: a tourist might think there is another competition besides patriotism among the neighbors – whose garden is the most attractive.
From these narrow streets and flower houses let us proceed to the miracle of the village.
The chapel on the picture above is a memory of a big castle which used to stand here, and Sant Amanç Cathedral (formerly named as Sancti Amantii Anglensis) which dates back to 1019. At the moment the cathedral is under construction, and this chapel functions as a parish church. Historically Anglés emerged around Sant Amanç: people were gathering around it until the village was formed.
As you come up the stairs to the chapel, something remarkable opens to your eyes…
Masonry, old narrow “knotty” streets, gorgeous mountains and bright houses – no one meant to make this place beautiful. But when Anglés appeared, it was nothing but beauty. And I could say the same about any Spanish town.
Spain? Definitely! Anglés? Why not!
Sincerely,
Alisa Abramova
