Fayón

Straight after camp we headed further inland, to a small village on the Aragonese border called Fayón, where Sam's granny lives. Despite its population of less than 500 people, Fayón is quite a well known village because of it's history. It was an important town in the Battle of the Ebro during the Spanish Civil war about 75 years ago, but also because the village was flooded.

The village was built on the banks of the Ebro river, but had to be flooded few decades ago as a water company wanted to remove a damn from further up the river. One evening we headed up to a small church on a hill from which you could see the old church steeple peeking out of the Ebro river; the rest of the old village remains submerged.

We spent the week in the new Fayon: beautiful little white houses with terracota rooves. One day Sam and I found a pear tree hanging out of one of the houses walls, and we found almond trees, olive trees and grape vines along the streets too. On the night we arrived there was a huge party in the Plaza Mayor, bunting with the Aragonese flag hung over the long tables which filled the square and hosted the whole village as they enjoyed their summer parties. Bread, chicken, salad, wine and food was enjoyed and shared before a prize giving with Spanish ham and local wine given to people who had one the raffle and various other competitions over the last few days. Little children dancing, adults chattering away enjoying the oasis of cool air in the midst of the humidity now that the sun had set. The following night we went to see jotas, the typical Aragonese dance.