April 28th.
Olli and Mani, true workers, headed off to work on Sunday morning. We got a couple of hours alone with Jedi and Stella. Those two little rascals won us over again. Slow Sunday mornings with the kids are absolute quality time. This time, we savored this delight in Spain on the Mediterranean coast.
All good things come to an end – and so did this treat! We said a shorter goodbye to Olli and the kids. Mani was still at work as we started Tellu. The rain shed tears for us all the way to the ground. It was bittersweet to leave the gentle home of the Juvonen family.
Rain has its silver lining—it washes away all the bugs’ residue from the windshield. We drove a couple of hundred kilometers to Valencia in rainy weather. Passing through Valencia went surprisingly smoothly. We parked in the next small village by the sea at a free parking lot. While making coffee, we noticed that the car fridge no longer works on the hub battery. So, we’ll be using gas as the fridge’s energy source for a while. Fortunately, we refilled the gas bottles yesterday! After coffee, we decided to head further inland – to the mountains! We’ve been staring at the sea for a couple of weeks now.
Eva found us a free parking spot in the charming little village of Pina de Montalgrao in the inland mountains – or rather, highlands! On the way there, we stopped in the village of Barragues to refuel the car and ourselves. Of course, we hit it during siesta time, so the restaurant was closed. The cafe-diner-store was open. We had tuna salad and meatballs on baguette for lunch. In the store, there were dozens of air-dried pig legs hanging on the walls. I’ve tasted that delicacy in Finland before – I think it was at Kuivasto during Liisi ‘s & Ville’s wedding party. I liked it then, and I still do. You could buy it here for €21/kg. The only problem is getting it to Finland in an edible state! So, I decided not to buy it. However, I took several slices with me to enjoy air-dried meat on bread for breakfast. Eva seems to stick to the cheese line…
We drove to the parking lot in Pina de Montalgrao to check out the overnight conditions. Then we returned to the village and parked the van. It didn’t take long to walk around the whole village. We took pictures and soaked in the history along with the present. We stopped at a local bar where we got a cup of tea and a mug of latte. Locals were spending time together at one table like in a common living room. It was a pretty calm atmosphere. No blasting techno music or cars buzzing outside. It suited both of us. After taking over the village, we returned to the van at the parking lot to wait for the impending rain, process the day’s photos, and write. A few lights around and a serene silence. Goodnight to all of us and to you!