Monday, January 16, 2017

Masías en Valencia

Masía -Casa de labor, con finca agrícola y ganadera, típica del territorio que ocupaba el antiguo reino de Aragón.

Just in case I forget that I live in Spain, I pass by these places on my bikes rides outside of Valencia. A masía is a farmhouse and must be a pretty old word because it stretches into the Provence region of France where mas (the word is mas in Valenciano as well) is still used to describe a rural dwelling. It's sad when I see one of these old places fall further into ruin but I suppose they can't all be bought up and turned into restaurants or places to hold wedding receptions.

I don't have much desire to live in the country a la Under the Tuscan Sun or A Year in Provence but maybe a weekend place would be nice. Most people here have homes in the villages of their ancestors. 
 The place looks like a nice fixer-upper with an artichoke field.

On this ride I had three (3, tres!) flat tires. Luckily I had a patch kit and was able to repair the tube (twice, I only had one spare tube) all without my reading glasses. It would have been a long walk home.

Abandoned. Fixer-upper?

Too much grass to mow.

No grass and plenty of free parking.

How to make a rural road as charming as possible.

This place above is 1.5K from my front door. Artichokes were just harvested. Next will be squash.