Weekend in Lleida

Just after returning to school this Fall, we had a long weekend due to a holiday. Coming off of a summer of lots of travel, a trip to Greece, and hosting a visitor, we were not up for venturing too far away from home. We took advantage of the day off by visiting a part of our region that we had not yet seen. The Lleida area is full of beautiful landscapes, as it contains small villages, varying textures in the countryside, lakes, and the Pyrenees mountain range. We stayed in a casa rural that had a fireplace, bbq, and pool that was surrounded by sunflowers. We rented a car to be able to see a lot of the variety that the area had to offer, and were so glad we did! We loved the quaint and authentic towns we drove through, and even stumbled upon one town's annual festival. To celebrate, they held a miniature bull fighting event. The fight was not actually a fight, as in Catalunya, harming the bulls has been outlawed. Here, while they call it a bullfight, the participants actually just play with the bulls without hurting them.

The mountains around us were stunning, and we frequently pulled the car over to get out and walk a bit of a trail, take in a view, and then keep driving. We loved starting the year with some time in our own region, getting to know more of the land and people around us. We fell even more in love with Catalunya, and I think it is easy to see why!