In the valley

Yesterday we went to Huesca to see some friends. It was dry and windy. You could see the snow on the nearby Sierra de Guara, but not in Huesca itself; it is only November after all!
After dinner we went for a long blowy walk from the city, under the motorway to the chapel of Loreto, dedicated to the parents of St Lawrence, the local saint who was a deacon in Rome, executed by a vindictive prefect, roasted on a griddle....in the 3rd century. The parents were called Orencio and Paciencia, apparently. Saints, of course.
Well anyway, the chapel isn't very exciting on the outside, but it was a lovely walk, and just after we started back towards Huesca we saw these olives.

Just turning from olive green towards black, they were beautiful!

I'm not a great eater of olives, but in my house only Aragonese olives are eaten, usually bitter, black wrinkly ones. 

Snow

It snowed last night and when we woke up there was snow everywhere.

The red deer in the dry moat of the  ciudadela were being fed.

And now France

Yesterday we went on a short trip to Oloron Sainte-Marie. It takes a bit more than an hour on excellent Spanish roads, a brilliant 8.606km tunnel and really poor French roads through the picturesque steep Aspe valley. The autumn colours on the northern (French) side were really spectacular. It was a beautiful day.
A relaxing café au lait on a sunny terrace and a steep walk to the eglise de Sainte Croix, kindly left open so we could see its painted Romanesque inside.

Sainte-Croix is at the end of the street

Then a trip to the hypermarché to buy French things. (wine, cheese, canard) Lidl was interesting. There were some products which they don't sell in Spanish Lidl, such as blueberry jam, but generally the same stuff. We spent more time in the big Leclerc opposite. Something you really don't want to buy in France is petrol, which is about 13 cents more than in the province of Huesca; admittedly it's supposed to be one of the cheapest in Spain for petrol.

Homewards  towards the mountains now starting to look white past the bracken-covered hills and the lovely slopes of trees.

Roman Zaragoza

I forgot about this one: from the Plaza del Pilar

I really liked the Roman poster on the pillar.

Ordesa:full

Yesterday, the first of November was a holiday. We decided to go to the national park of Ordesa to see the autumn colours.
In the summer you can't drive into Ordesa. You have to leave the car in a big car park in the village of Torla and take a bus. Not in the autumn, however. We arrived at the big car park in Ordesa and we must have got the last space. It was crammed! Hundreds of people had thought the same as us. I hope it wasn't for the peace of the country, because it wasn't at all peaceful.
It was beautiful though. A little bit late for the best of the autumn leaves, but there were some lovely contrasts of colours; beeches, silver birches, poplars and pines.

We went for a nice walk along the track, talking, enjoying the views and taking a few photos. Then we drove back dow to Torla, passing the barrier; we must have been among the last cars allowed up befor they put up the FULL sign. 

In Torla we had a nice traditional meal of migas (fried breadcrumbs) and lamb chops washed down with red Somontano wine.