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What an amazing event this turned out to be!
We left Javea on Thursday 30th May, stopping enroute at Molina de Segura where we had a guided visit to the Horno del Concejo y Casa del Folclore, followed by the Museo del Enclave de la Muralla (MUDEM), designed to house and display the remains of the medieval wall which was built almost a thousand years ago by the Moors to protect the town of Mulinat-as-Sikka.
Free time for lunch followed in one of the café/bars near the Parque de la Compañía, which is full of specimen trees and plants with many different varieties of palms, conifers and shrubs, as well as a replica of an old water mill. Reboarding our coach, we continued to Hellín and checked in to the Hotel Restaurante Emilio, our home for the next 3 nights (with dinner & breakfast included).
The next morning we had a very interesting guided visit to the Museo Alfombras Elche de la Sierra, where we discovered the history of the Festival of Sawdust Carpets, the moulds which are used and how the carpets are created.
Elche de la Sierra was beautifully decorated for the forthcoming festival.
We then made our way to the very pretty village of Letur, with free time to wander around its narrow streets and to have lunch. The old town was declared an Historical-Artistic Site in 1983 for being the best preserved medieval layout of Arab origin in the province of Albacete.
Friday evening, after dinner, we all sang happy birthday to Fran, with a cava toast, as she blew out the candles on the cake which the hotel restaurant had made especially for her.
Saturday morning we travelled to nearby Liétor, another very pretty town, for a guided walk of the historical area, followed by free time for lunch.
We returned to our hotel mid-afternoon, with free time rest or to have a wander around Hellín.
Finally we had reached our last day, Sunday, and the main highlight of our tour, the Festival of Sawdust Carpets in Elche de la Sierra. So many beautiful carpets, it was difficult to pick the ones to include here!
Time for a BBQ lunch outdoors, or in one of the restaurants or cafe bars, before our return to Jávea.
Thank you to everyone on the trip for making it such a fun event, and special thanks to many of you for sharing your photos and videos (particularly Sieglinde – see her wonderful videos and photos on the Javea U3A Facebook page).
Report by Angela Chantry – Group Leader Spanish Culture and Cuisine
