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In Valderrobres
The castillo (castle), the church and the museum are open to the public. There are guided tours. The castillo is a place for expositions,
concerts and theatre. Find more information on the website of the
Castillo.
Cultural events are anounced on the website of the «Asociación
Cultural para la recuperación del Patrimonio de Valderrobres».
Special cultural events take place on the occasion of religious holidays. One of the highlights are Easter holidays, «Semana Santa».
Between August 14th and 21st the village festivities in honour of the saint «San Roque» take place –
«Las Fiestas Patronales».
Quite an event! A 7-day-and-night-party!
What's up in culture these days? Check it out on Valderrobres
official website and
here.
Books about Valderrobres
 «Valderrobres – paso a paso»
This book was published in 2005 (281 p.). The two local authors Carmelo López Esteruelas and
Manuel Siurana Roglán cover in this book just about every aspect of the village: nature (geology, fauna and flora, climate),
history (starting in prehistoric times, ending in 2005), society etc. Two nice tours through Valderrobres
and its surroundings complete the book
(many nice pictures, statistics, etc.; 19 €, so far only in spanish). There should be a copy in the house.
«Valderrobres. Report about a Spanish Village»
The german author Lore Schaumann visited Valderrobres in the early seventies. In 1975 she published this little book about
the village, the people, her experiences in the village with the neighbours and peasants. So far published in german
only (108 p. with 60 b/w photos; you'll find the german text of the book
here). A copy of the book is in the house.
Library
In March 2017 the library moved to C. La Paz 7 - just one minute from the Plaza.
Spanish newspapers and interesting books about the region are on hand. Free entrance. For the opening hours check:
here.
What's up around Valderrobres?
Check the official website of the
«Matarranya» region.
The website of the
«Associació Cultural del
Matarranya».
Visit the neighbouring villages
A stroll through the medieval neighbouring villages Arnes, Beceite, Calaceite, Cretas, Fuentespalda, Horta de Sant Joan, La Fresneda and
Rafales is always worthwhile. Some hints about these villages – in order of the alphabet:
Arnes: The «Fiestas Mayores» take place
starting July 22nd. There is music and local dances, the «Jotas».
In Arnes you can visit: the bee-museum,
«Povet de la Neu»,
built back in the arabic times, where the used to
store snow and ice in the winter for cooling purposes in summer (ask for the key at town hall/Ajuntament) and the anciant
olive-mill.
Beceite:
In the «Parrizal»-valley, at the end of the dirt road, you can admire tiny little prehistoric drawings on rocks, so called «pinturas rupestres».
They date back to the Stone Age. In the last 40 years more than 150 such prehistoric drawings were found in the Beceite region.
Find all the information
here.
In Beceite, the local fiestas take place between August 24th and 26th. Visit the
«Antigua Fábrica Noguera» an interesting
modern gallery which is located in the building of a former paper factory.
Calaceite:
Impressive, quite big old part of town. The local museum of art, the
«Museo Juan Cabré»
is dedicated to this local artist.
Cretas:
There is a small, interesting
museum which
exhibits ceramics, tools and pieces of art from prehistoric Iberic-times (1000 b.c.) which were found in the region. This museum is not
open a lot, you should call first or maybe you ask for the key at city hall/ayuntamiento.
In April, the local «Feria del Vino»
takes place. Quite an event. The local fiestas – with music and dancing – start on June 24th.
On the main road between Valderrobres and Arnes, there is the winery
«Venta d'Aubert».
The bodega is open to the public on request – call and make an appointment (phone: 0034 636 304 562).
Some of the wines are on sale in some of the shops in Valderrobres (f.e. Casa Giner, Plaza España).
Fuentespalda:
The Plaza is dominated by the beautiful house (rather: mansion) of the Belsa family. It was built in 1546 by the Belsa who still owns it. Enrique Belsa guides you through the house in this
video. Daily visits at 12am and 6pm.
Horta de Sant Joan:
This place played a very important role in Picasso's life – he
always referred to Horta by saying:
«Picasso siempre decía que todo lo que había aprendido en su vida lo había hecho en
Horta de Sant Joan.» – «Everything I know, I learned in Horta de Sant Joan.»
How come? Picasso's classmate from artschool in Barcelona, Manuel Pallarès was from Horta de Sant Joan.
Picasso spent twice in his life some months in Horta: as a teenager between summer 1898
and February 1899 (with the Pallarès family) and
from May to August 1909 (then with his muse Fernande Olivier) when he lived in Paris.
That's the reason why there is a small Picasso-museum with a nice website.
Also the village-website offers
some information about Picasso and his stays in Horta.
There is also the little local «Ecomuseu els Ports»
offering a little insight to past life of the peasants, as well as fauna and flora.
La Fresneda: located on a hill
with an nice old part of town and a very impressive view to the mountains and the surroundings. In the centre you'll find
the «Palacio de la Ecomienda», a little
olive oil shop in an impressive building from the 16th century.
A few kilometers out of town, in the «Valle del Silencio», there is the
«Convento de los Frailes Mínimos» built in the 16th century.
Only the walls are still standing, the rest of the buildings is falling apart. It's a very interesting place and
the excursion is well worth it.
Coming down from the church and leaving La Fresneda in the direction of Alcañiz, there should
be some signs saying «Convento». Even more helpful – ask a local for the ruins of the «Convento» (not
to be mixed up with the restaurant/hotel of the same name!).
Rafales:
In this little village in the mountains there is
«El Molí de l'Hereu»,
a museum of an old olive-mill, with a restaurant.
Another restaurant, «L'Alqueria»,
is quite famous (not expensive).
The local swimming-pool with a kiosk/bar is located very nicely, just a little bit out of the town – with
a spectacular view to the mountains. Up in the sky you'll see the vultures gliding majesticaly over the region.
Peñarroya de Tastavins:
On the top of the village there is the little local museum «Lo Masmut».
Teruel is the region of dinosaurs. The one found in Peñarroya not too long ago, 17m long and 11m in height,
is exhibited in the local museum of dinosaurs
«Inhóspitak». This
is a branch of the main dinosaur museum in Teruel capital.
Starting in Peñarroya, you can hike to the impressive «Masmut» area – and back to the village in an afternoon.
A little further away – but worth the trip
Luis Buñuel
The world famous spanish movie director Luis Buñuel was born in Calanda,
some 50 kms west of Valderrobres on February 22nd 1900 (he died July 20th 1983 in Mexico City). In honour of Buñuel there
is the «Centro Buñuel de Calanda» – museum,
archives und cinema under the same roof in the village of Calanda.
Morella:
Located on a hill, very impressive. Nice medieval old part of town.
Miravet is located next to the river Ebro.
Since the middle ages there are many potteries (alfarería) in this village. One of the bigger
ones is «alfarero Ferrán». It's a little touristy
and some of the pieces are not old school anymore – but Ferrán shows old local earthenware in a little museum (free entrance).
Information about other potteries in the area and many interesting information about Miravet you'll
find here.
If your a friend of good wine, great food and architecture ...
Gandesa: check the
wine cooperative.
Pinell de Brai:
The architect César Martinell y Brunet, one of Antonio Gaudis scholars, built between 1918 and 1927 a pearl:
«La Catedral del Vi»,
the wine-cooperative in the catalan art deco style (estilo Novecentista/Modernisme). Visit the
wine-cooperative – it's worth it!
Priorat:
The Priorat wine region
is quite small, but the wine produced
here is in general of excellent quality. You may visit small wineries and enjoy great
food in the local restaurants. The official
website of the Priorat is first
class – you'll find all the
information you might need. Try the
«Ruta de Bodegas» or the
«Ruta del Aceite» (i.e. olive oil).
What about a city excursion?
Alcañiz:
The closest city to Valderrobres is Alcañiz, some 36 kms west of Valderrobres. Except for the impressive Plaza and
the historic parador with a rather stiff
restaurant on top of the hill,
there is not too much to be seen in this rather modern town. Very good food is served in the restaurant
«Meseguer».
Never been to the restaurant «Empeltre»,
which offers a very modern and fancy spanish cuisine.
Tortosa:
In the centre of Tortosa there is the historic market hall, built between 1884 and 1887 by the catalan
architect Joan Torras i Guardiola, called «the catalan Gustave Eiffel». Except on Sundays,
the market-stalls are open daily until 1 pm.
If you don't want to eat in the market-hall, the closeby
restaurant
Paiolet is recomended. Very tasty and modern catalan cuisine. To be on the
safe side, reserve a table. Today's menue?
Check the website. A three course menu (wine, water and bread included) will cost you 10 € only.
Here you'll find good informaton about
the regional protected area «Els Ports» and
the «Parque Natural» in the delta of the river Ebro.
Barcelona: Looking for a
stylish modern hotel room
or an apartment in the centre? Maybe
«Chic & Basic» is something for you?
Zaragoza:
Big and lively city where you'll find everything: from impressive plazas, churches and museums to night life.
The bus from Valderrobres to Zaragoza takes some 2.5 hrs. only.
Valencia:
Never been there, but everybody recommends it a lot! Impressive old part of town, good food and night life.
From Valderrobres by bus it takes too long. Should your flight bring you to Valencia, it's worthwhile to spend a day or two there.
Madrid: Exactly – the capital ...
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