Iter Facere

Friday July 13 - Torla to Pont de Suert

So long to Torla. As we were leaving, we decide that we could have spent another day here easily enough, as there are some other things to do int the area, and another walk (not hike) in the park would be nice. Today is a driving day, with a stop or two along the way to enjoy the view. As we’re driving we see more construction. The amount of building around the Pyrenees is boggling. Every town, no matter how dull is sprouting cranes building apartment complexes, which all look alike. They are all three or four stories tall, the have reinforced concrete slabs and pillars, and then are faced in stone. The stone is real stone, not just surface stone, so the walls a almost two feet thick. They’re all built in the style of the area, so they don’t look bad, but they are obvious. Panticosa was filled with them, but we see them everywhere. They must be for vacation homes, since the population is sparse.
We stop to look at the town of Ainsa. Every trip has a place that we wished we’d stayed in, and Ainsa is the place. It is a beautiful town (surrounded by new construction) an hour south of Torla, so it is in the front range of the mountains. Its the principal town of the Sobrarbe region. It has been heavily restored,maybe over restored for some. The town has a small castillo at one end, a large arcaded plaza mayor and then two main streets the run parallel to each other for 100 yards or so. Right off the plaza mayor is a little church that is just charming. You enter in to the nave, which is a large Romanesque barrel vault with almost no light. The interior is very plain and serene. Below the altar is a crypt with Romanesque arches and vaulting, about fifteen feet square, again dark, the arches dramatically displayed in the light. Upstairs again there is a tiny triangular cloister, each side with only two or three slightly pointed arches. The tower is open, so you make your way up the narrow staircase to the bells. The staircase is barely big enough for us to walk up, my shoulders touch both sides and I have to double over. While we are on the top floor, the quarter hour arrived so the bells pealed. Sean was standing next to one and jumped out of his skin.
There is a little traditional folkways museum in town, which has a nice collection of carpentry, pottery and weaving implements. According to the museum, the valleys in the Pyrenees were so remote until recently that many of these traditional crafts were practiced until recently. I don’t know if that means the 1930’s or the 1970’s.
We ate a delightful luch under the arcade in the plaza mayor. If we want to pick a spot to rent an apartment for a week or so, Ainsa might be the place. The region has a lot of sights, Ordesa park is only an hour away and the local Turismo had a good selection of day trips with different themes. Something to think about.
The drive to Pont de Suert was uneventful from there. The road took us along the front edge of the mountains, so we could admire the yellow flowers covering them. We made a quick side trip to Benasque, more apartment construction, similar to Panticosa. We crossed into Catalunya and found Pont de Suert, We finally realized why it was spelled funny - its Catalan. Pont de Suert won’t win any prizes for quaintness or charm, it is a rather drab place with a mix of ugly modern and run down old. The Can Mestre, our hotel is nice enough, and everyone we’ve met in town is very pleasant. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone as a destination, but in an odd way I like it.

posted by Jim @ 5:57 PM