Semana Santa but that deserves it’s own post.

After finally getting my residency application submitted we decided it was time to visit our Spanish family. Salvador’s Uncle, Aunt and cousin live in Lleida (Catalunya) and so we arranged to visit them for a week or 2 and to spend Easter (semana santa) with them and hopefuly get some help looking for a second hand car.

They welcomed us with open arms, and their generousity and kindness blew us away.

We were lucky that on our first day of looking for a car we managed to find a very good buy. A Ford Feista which although was old, had only 106,000 km and also only one owner. We decided it was a good buy and so we are now the proud owners of a blue 2006 Ford Fiesta.

We wandered the streets of Lleida’s centro historica with his Uncle and Aunt and on the weekend.

His cousin took us to the Castillo de La Suda and Cathedral La Seu Vella that sits on top of the hill in Lleida and can be seen for miles. We toured the Cathedral which had been used for many years by the military. Firstly during the Catalan Revolt (1640) it was used as a hospital and armoury. In 1707, as part of the War of Succession, it was transformed into military barracks and despite being declared a historic-artistic monument in 1918, the cathedral would become a concentration camp during the Civil War (1936) and barracks until 1948. This has left the cathedral stripped of many of the ornate decorations and altars that you would typically find in Spanish Catholic cathedral and churches. This left a very bare bones structure but it was still very beautiful because of the simplicity of the building.

We then spent 3 beautfull sunny days in Salou where his Uncle and Aunt have a holiday apartment. This is a coastal town just below Tarragona and about 1 1/2 hours from Barcelona. Salou is a holiday town and has lots of tourists in summer. But it is still a lovely town and the beach area was really beautiful.

On our return, we stayed at Salvador’s cousin’s home in a small village outside of Lleida. They also own a small farm. We ate a lot every day and we seemed to have something special for Easter each day.

On what we know as Easter Monday, the Catalans celebrate what they call La Mona where family and friends get together and have a BBQ or similar. They also have a special type of cake specifically for ‘La Mona’.

Family and friends got together and we had Calçot a typical dish from Catalan barbequed onions (a special kind of onion similar to a spring onion but larger)served with a special sauce. Sausage and chops, BBQ capsicum and eggplant and so much more. It was a wonderful day and we are grateful to be a part of it.

We have had sunshine galore every day with unusually high temperatures in the mid to high 20’s it’s been a wonderful few weeks.