[Jan. 2023] After reaching the summit of the Sierra de Francia, a scenic mountainous area in the province of Salamanca in western Spain, we visited La Alberca, which is said to be a typical village in this region.
That’s right, I wanted to come to such a place.
A village where old half-timbered houses give a good atmosphere.
There are beams on the wall, creating a pattern of vertical stripes.
And there are nice cobbled streets.
It’s a pretty big village with a nice church.
It is a parish church dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and was rebuilt in the 18th century, according to a guidebook.
The fact that it was rebuilt means that there must have been a church before then.
The current one was built in 1733, at the same time as the new cathedral of Salamanca was completed.
It is famous for its pulpit, which is said to date from the 16th century.
There was an embroidery shop just outside this church.
The guidebook says that there is an embroidery museum, but I think it’s probably about this shop.
Because the man in the shop beckoned us to go inside and take a look.
When we moved to the back of the shop as we were told, there was a bed cover and other things covered with embroidery.
The embroidery of cute small patterns on a white background is probably less rich than the embroidery we saw in Croatia a few months before, but it has a certain charm.
The man explained that there are lion patterns that represent ‘power of men’, patterns of birds that represent ‘power of women’, patterns of fish that wish for a lot of children, patterns that represent love, and so on.
We don’t understand Spanish, so these are my Italian husband’s interpretation.
I bought a bag with a bird (15 euros) as a souvenir.
In the first place, I thought that the concept of “woman’s power” rather than the kindness or tolerance of women was relatively rare.
But apparently, in this village, there is a historical fact in the 15th century that women defeated the invading Portuguese army.
Every year, at Easter, they celebrate that.
There is also a honey specialty shop next to this embroidery shop, and we bought some as a souvenir.
In addition to honey, another typical food around here is turron de almendras, an almond nougat.
La Alberca also has a small but tasteful Plaza Mayor, which is very different from the one in Salamanca, and there are several restaurants around it.
We had a taxi waiting for us, so there was a time limit of 40 minutes, but I wished we could have a leisurely meal here.
