“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
Of course, the best is when friends show you around to discover places and things you never knew existed like this inner courtyard with all of the wood and metal tools and equipment polished, restored and inviting to the eye and imagination.
What I certainly didn't expect to find, and it's the first time I've seen it here since my arrival was Yarn Bombing! And let me tell you that this tree is knitted most expertly.
The courtyard has a museum of sorts, a quaint store of local products (wines, honey, breads, all types of jam, jellies and preservatives, books of the region and more,) a café, a rustic inn and a fabulous restaurant upstairs.
The plants that overhang the lovely patio are all dormant for now, but just at the point of exploding with leaves and color.
A traditional oven that originally was built into the wall of the house in which a large family would bake bread for the week. The mother or baker would knead and make eight or more enormous loaves at a time.
Antique wooden wine press screws - from the 1800s and earlier, possibly dating back to Roman times between the 1st-2nd century. In use, they were used with the large side on top, and you would have handles to turn. Now they rest upside down.
On the second floor leading to the restaraunt, there is a corredor along which antique farm tools and furniture sit alongside cozy tables and places to rest and visit.
Strands of garlic and baskets hang under the beams for storage and easy access.
Antiques in the original sense, in dark hues hang on display reminding us of their use long ago and the lifestyle they represent of days past. A wooden and silk lamp bordered with fringe stands alongside bed warmers. Enrique shakes his head as I write this last line and smiles. When you're married to a sleeping furnace, who needs a bed warmer? This is true even in the cold highlands of Spain.
