DAY 193 - The Perfect Catelonian Village of Rupit

Sept 28 - Stepping Back in Time for a Day

Rupit is a village in Catalonia, Spain.  It is located at 822 m above sea level, 98 km from Barcelona.

Most of the buildings are 500 years old or more. 

This reminds me of my grandpa's old red tractor.  How funny!

Nowadays Rupit is best known as a tourist town, because of its medieval appearance, stone houses and streets made of natural rock.




These days, the village of Rupit only has some 400 residences, but packs in a lot more than that in terms of years of history: its castle (now in ruins) in fact dates back to around the year 1000. It wasn’t until the 12^th century, though, that Rupit really began to grow, with the rocky medieval village building around the once-castle — which sat atop the town — and eventually coming to resemble what you see today.

Before we set foot in the village, we had a picnic that we had packed for the four of us.

Our hosts, Ivan and Patricia, had driven us to this cute little village and gave us a tour.

 Ivan loved taking photos of the old doors and the wood-working.  He gave us copies of all of his photos, which were fantastic! 

These people must have been REALLY short!

 The streets and houses of Rupit are from the 16th and 17th centuries, all of them made from stone and this rustic atmosphere gives the town a special feeling.

The church of Sant Joan de Fàbregues and its castle are documented from the year 968. The church, which was the main church of the municipality, is located about 3 km from the castle. (which is in ruins now). Noble families built a new church, Sant Miquel, where they had built their houses. This church now is the parish church.

 

I wish we would have had our pictures taken here - aren't they cute?  This is the entrance doors into the Parish church .  We'll go inside a little later in the photo groupings.

 My grandpa AND my dad (both were carpenters) would have appreciated all the different types of nails and wood that went into the building of this amazingly well-preserved town and buildings.  I'm glad Ivan had the eye to notice it.

We wandered around this very pretty village with narrow streets and houses decorated with blooming flower pots, then took a trek in the area to the Salt de Sallent waterfall .

Most of the windows had live flowers on the sills - so very pretty!

I REALLY wanted to go up there and say "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"  I actually did ask around, but it didn't work out.  Later - in the next Spanish town!!  Stay tuned!

 Notice all the Catalan flags flying.  We chose a special day to come.  It was evidently a celebration day for this little town.  There were flags EVERYWHERE and a kind of carnival for families in the square.

I LOVED this little balcony all decorated and so very cute!

Another photo from a far...oh to live here for just a day.

Many of the houses had an entrance that was open to the public - very neat!

Romanesque Church of Sant Joan de Fàbregues - documented from the year 968....very beautiful and oh, so simple!

Patricia and I in a cute shoppe where I found a great item with "Live By the Sun, Love By the Moon."

These sausage roll things are very popular in Catalonia and are really yummy!

WELCOME to the town square where everyone - all 400 residents - hang out.

There are games for young and old alike.

Ivan has a hand at this challenging game.

There were many games and they were all home-made....so innovative!

Patricia is a kid at heart!

Time to go down the dark stairs and explore the countryside around the village.

Now, aren't we sassy?

Steppin' along the stones on the pathway to the waterfall.

We had so much fun on this beautiful little hike, but we had to hurry cause there was a storm coming.

The "Riera de Rupit" is a small river running through Rupit and forms the Sallent waterfall when it meets the cliffs.  Spectacular site!

Don't fall in, Rich!

I LOVE this photo of the babbling brook (river) down below. 

Back to the village we go after a wonderful little hike to the waterfall.

One of the things to pay attention to is the rock wall that dominates the village. The rock, in Latin called “rupes”, is where the castle was built, and from there comes the origin of the name of the village.

We saw two "love birds" along the way.  I wonder if they're thinking to fly out of here for the winter?

There is a hanging bridge which provides access to the center of the village.

The old hanging wooden bridge was constructed in 1945 by craftsmen from the town. The bridge is a big tourist attraction and was a great experience to actually cross a suspension bridge.  There was a warning sign that no more than four people at a time could cross.  It swayed quite a lot and was VERY high above the river.  ScARy!!

What a wonderful day we had in Rupit!  Thanks for taking us here!

"Churros anyone?"

Back to the flat, Rich put finishing touches on hanging these cute shelves for Patricia - then she decorated them.  It made for a nice place to put some of her books.  This is in the bedroom we stayed.