We've finished!

Today we had a closing ceremony. We saw a presentation of the work, and the participants in both workshops were given certificates.

All the best to everyone!

The end

The Via Tolosana Employment Workshop is finishing this week. Good luck to all the participants; students, teachers and organisers.

Our guided tours

Finally, we made our guided tours of Jaca.We were a bit nervous, but we did it.
In my case, I think the second guide tour was a little better.I was more tranquil, and I tried not to read the information. I don't think it was perfect, but was the first time, and I'm sure the next will be better.

Sally,¡thanks for believing in us!

MY CHALLENGE

Everything I´ve do in the "Taller Vía Tolossana",this has been my biggest Challenge.
In this guided tour with the Institute Domingo Miral, I risked "my honour", because one of the listeners was my son, great critic, your friends and teachers. I was very nervous but I was protected me by colleagues and my English teacher "Sally" who always supported me and gave me encouragement.

Guided Tour feedback

My first Guided tour in English was on Monday. I had to speak about the Saint Peter's castle and the Rapitan Fort, two of the most important monuments in Jaca. The audience was made up of teenagers from France,Italy,Germany, Turkey, Lithuania and Spain.
At the beginning of the tour I felt a little bit nervous but when I started to talk my nerves dissappeared and I really had a good time talking about my town, Jaca.
I have to be grateful for the support of Sally, my English teacher, and my companions during the visit.They made it easier...
Thanks a lot.

Guided Tour

At last we've done our guided tour of Jaca! There were two big groups of students and teachers from Germany, Italy, Turkey, France and Lithuania, as well as quite a few from Jaca. Elena, MªJosé, Ignacio, Luisa and Sally all made contributions to the tour, which went well and the timing was almost perfect!

This is a photo of one of the groups, looking at Monte Oroel.
 

Congratulations Clara!

Congratulations Clara!
Welcome to little Marcos!

The Town Hall

The Town Hall of Jaca dates from 1486.This building still preserves the historical part of the most important Municipal Archive of Jaca.
It was constructed by Juan de Rosellet. It is a great plateresque style façade. Five windows decorated with the bars of Aragón form the second floor. A gallery of typically Aragonese arches constituted the last and most recent contribution to the buiding.
Inside you find the "Room of the Ciento" which comnmemorates the Council of Ciento, formed by one hundred good men who were helping to govern the city from 1212.

Guided tour text: Modernism in Jaca

Modernism in Jaca

This style was born in Belgium in the early XXth century.

Some characteristics of Art Modernism are:

• Decorative art
• Inspiration in nature with vegetables(plant) and flower shapes
• And inspiration in other cultures too

In Jaca you can find different buildings of this style. There is a modernism route, and we can see from this place a several modernist buildings like:

• Casa Rubio ( Pilgrim´s Bar)
• Casa Valero
• more in the Calle Mayor

Guided tour text - Ciudadela and Rapitan Fort

From this place, we can see two of the most important monuments in Jaca, the Ciudadela and the Rapitan fort.
The Ciudadela or Saint Peter's Castle was built in XVIth Century and it's a pentagonal construction with defensive walls. As you can see it's a very singular and wonderful construction.
Now it's a symbol of the city of Jaca. You will see it another day.
Look at the mountain over there, it's the Rapitan Fort, a military building located at the entrance to the Aragon valley, this element made it defensively very important.It was started in 1884 and finished at the begining of the twentieth Century .
From this point you can see this mountain, it is called Collarada and itś 2886 metres above the sea level.

Presentation about the Cathedral in a guided tour

We are in front of one of the most important monument in the city: the Cathedral . It was the first romanesque cathedral in Spain.

It is dedicated to Saint Peter.

It was begun on the orders of Ramiro I. However the work started in 1076 during the reign of his son Sancho Ramírez.
Here, (there was) near the Lonja Chica  was the market in the Middle Ages, among other things people come here to buy textiles. The salesmen took the measure on that column, we can see the measure there. Can you see it? It is the mark on the right column.

Now look at the decoration,

what does it remind you of?

The clock tower

It is in the "Marques de la Cadena" Square, near to the Santiago church. There is modern sculpture in bronze of Ramiro I of Aragon (1035-1064). It is a civil Gothic building, officially the Clock Tower populary the Jail Tower from 1602.

It is a sample of the civil Gothic and it was contructed around 1445 as a private residence, in the same place where the palace of the Aragonese monarch was.

(Nowadays it is) Until recently it was the seat of the Work Community of the Pyrenees. The conference rooms and office are distributed over four floors and the vaulted basement of the restored tower.

Peg-legged angel

The New Door of the cathedral.

The New Door of


the cathedral.



In the last year in the cathedral were a reform of their walls and their entry, is in this area where we do the first stop.



This is the entry< > principal of cathedral, this in origin was all empty, the building (which)how now covers the different side of the cathedral wasn't made and the people could walk freely.



Today we have a different view, normally if we think from the years of construction until today we have ten centuries. The opening of the Diocesan museum is a opportunity(for can) to view different view of the original wall of the cathedral, or can view more or less, what the original inhabitants of the cathedral saw, and feel the important senses that this incredible construction transmits.

There are four windows (in)side of the museum, and well we have four new views to feel new experiences.

By Manu

Some information about the Cathedral

Jaca Cathedral has provoked big debates about its date of construction.
Some investigators are sure that the building can be dated in 1063. Other experts think that the construction was around ten or twenty years later, although the Cathedral is one of the first buildings in Spain constructed following the International Romanesque trends.
The Cathedral has three naves with alternatings supports between pillars and exempt columns.
The three naves finish in three apses.
The central, is the deepest. It was reformed in the XVIII to install the organ there.
A curious piece of information is that inside the Cathedral is situated too the parish church dedicated to Santa Orosia. If you want to visit when you came into the Cathedral only turn left and you will find it.
Below the altar of the Cathedral are three silver boxes. One of them contains the remains of S. Indalecio, another guards the bodies of S. Voto and S. Félix. And the third silver box is occupied by the remains of an important character: Santa Orosia.

Bagües

Room of Bagües

If you go into the cathedral of Jaca you can visit the Diocesan Museum where you can find different rooms dedicated to romanesque painters.

One of them is the chapel of Bagües. Bagües was a church that was in a village called Bagües, it was in ruins. In the XIX century (...)decided to move (...) to the cathedral museum.

The architect designed a room like the Bagües church and we can see it.

Some people think that it is the chapel Sixtine but in the Romanesque style. Perhaps it is true since the story that its walls tells it is similar.You must read left to right and you will find stories change preposition about Holy Bible like the Creation of Adam and Eve, Resurrection of Lazarus and other scenes.

In the apse you can see the Pantocrator, it´s the Christ figure in a "mandorla", shape of almond, he is an important figure and his colours are brilliant.

In those times people couldn´t read and the painter tryed to make his art (was) very easy to understand.

This painter is very important in the romanesque style.

The Cathedral of Jaca

The Cathedral of San Pedro, in Jaca, is the first Romanesque Cathedral in Spain. It  is(past) started in 1075, by order of the King Ramiro I.
The porticoed door is on the west side, and it is covered with barrel vault with two arcs. This portico is called " Lonja Mayor".It is decorated by chessboard borders and ball decorations, typical of the Romanesque jaques.
(In this front) is very important the tympanum, where you can find a trinity "crismon" sorrounded by two Lions (Change word order in this sentence)

CATHEDRAL

Jaca cathedral is considered to be one of the most important Spanish monuments: It is the greatest Romanesque cathedral in Spain, and the model for all Spanish Romanesque. It is a candidate for UNESCO world heritage status. Built at the end of the 11 th century, it is a shining example of Aragonese-Romanesque stylle. The Diocesan Museum of Jaca houses one the world´s most significant colletions of medieval frescoes.

The Romanesque cathedral was constructed in two phases:

Fist Period: (1077-1082) During the reign of Sancho Ramirez and the his brother infanta García bishop.

Second Period (1104-1130): Alfonso I el Batallador and Esteban of Huesca helped the crown and mitre respectively.

In 1631 to 1752 it was demoslished.

1841: another demolition.

Outside:

It has two accesses:

Small doorway (mesure) Pantocrator in cover, symbols of the evangelists, bull and the lion.

Columns, archivolts and Capitals with the representation of Abraham´s sacrifice, and the King David playing the zither.

Jaca rod: standard measurement that was used in all Aragon.

Major door: "Penintencial Porch". Trinity Crismon: father, son and Holy Spirit.

Inside:

Basiilical plan is three naves, the central one wider and taller, with round arches.

It has some balls and a characteristic chessboard design called jaques that extended all the St James´way. A side chapel is Santa Orosia of Baroque style.

Cathedral

Jaca's most important building is the Romanesque Cathedral, which in later Centuries was altered and given Plateresque decoration.
The square tower, the outer walls, the main doorway and the south doorway are all Romanesque.

Typical characteristics of Romanesque architecture include thick stone walls, perfectly semicircular arches, barrel vaults, carved portals and little but predominantly geometric decoration (checkers, zig-zags, etc.). In addition, due to the insecurity of Romanesque architects about the best way to construct, doorways and windows are generally extremely narrow; interiors tend to be dim and solemn due to the lack of natural light.

There is very fine figural decoration on the south doorway and its porch: the capitals are very beautiful with a lot of representations of Bible stories.
In the choir and the dome of the central apse are frescoes by Bayeu.
In the cloister of the Jaca Cathedral is the Diocesan Museum, which in addition to a variety of religious objects displays a magnificent collection of Romanesque wall paintings from churches in the Aragonese Pyrenees.

In conclusion, if you are a lover of the Romanesque style, you have to visit Jaca, the Saint Peter's Cathedral to admire one of the most ancient cathedrals in Spain. You can also visit smaller Romanesque churches in the surrounding villages like Santa Cruz de la Serós and San Juan de la Peña.

Spanish Omelette

The famous Spanish Omelette is made from potatoes and eggs. It can often contain onion, peppers or another greens.

The eggs are beaten and the potatoes are sliced and fried.

Then eggs and potatoes are mixed and put in the frying pan with a little oil.

When one side is cooked the omelette is turned over and the other side is cooked.

Then it is ready to serve!

Describe a dish: Spaghetti a la carbonara

Spaghetti is made from pasta and this dish is made with a special sauce. It consists of eggs, cream and pieces of bacon. If you want you can put cheese.

Gazpacho

This is a cold soup. It's made from tomato, peppers, onion, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and salt.
It's a typical Spanish food in the summer.

Benedictines' Convent. First Part. The Nuns' Story.

On the left we can see the Benedictines' Convent. The story of these nuns is very interesting.

First they were at the Monasterio Viejo de San Juan de la Peña, they were living in the same place as the monks, obviously in different areas, but in fact they were really near.

(The) Saint Benito's Rule in 1024 forced the nuns to leave the Monastery so they moved to the village Santa Cruz de la Serós.

It was a good time for the Order. Doña Sancha, Urraca and Teresa went to live to the Monastery of Santa María because it was a calm place in a time of war and conflict.

Doña Sancha was a powerful woman, she was a very important piece of (the) Aragonese Hhistory.

In 1097 Doña Sancha died and she was buried in a pretty sarcophagus in Santa María Church.

In 1520 the nuns were moved to Jaca. The Order started its new life in this Convent.

When the Sarcophagus was moved to Jaca it was a very hard work. They spent three days for fifteen kilometres! It arrived here in November 1622. If you want you can see the Sarcophagus but before you must request permission from the nuns.

EATING IN (THE) JACETANIA: CASA GABY

My favoutite Restaurant in this area is "Casa Gaby" in Hecho. I like it because is a beautifull house with a litlle dinning room, where you can eat a variety of regional food. My daughter call it "the little dolls house", because really seems it.

Gaby is the owner, and she has won a lot of gastronomics prizes.

Torrijas

What´s are torrijas?
Torrijas are made from eggs, milk, bread, sugar, cinnanion stick and oil.

TORRIJAS


ingredients:


Eggs, 1l of the milk, bread, oil, cinnanion stick, sugar.





Method:


1-Slice the bread.


2-boil the milk with cinnamon stick and sugar.


3-Soak the bread with milk.


4-Drain break.


5-Coat bread in the eggs.


6-Fry the bread in oil.


7- Coat bread in sugar and cinnamon.

My favorite restaurant is the Polifemo pizzeria. The owner is very nice.

The pizzeria is very good. The dough of the pizzas is thin with cheerse, tomatoes...The salads are very complete with lettuce, peppers, onions, carrot, tomato peppers, eggs,...The dessert is very good. It is with biscuits, cream and coconut.

Eating in the Jacetania: Borda Chiquín

Sally asked me about the restautants in this area so I told her that my favourite restaurant in this area is Borda Chiquín.

It's situated near Ansó. If you want to eat there maybe you have to reserve because usually it's full, above all in the summer.

The restaurant is between mountains and big trees so eating on the terrace is fantastic.

Normally most people eat migas for the first dish and lamb for the second dish.  (maybe course rather than dish)

To finish the dinner you can eat a dessert for example fruit or yoghurt and of course throughout all the dinner most people drink red wine. Be careful with the road when you return home, it's very winding!

" El Pajar "

"El Pajar " ( or "The Barn " in English) is a little restaurant placed in the historical center of Jaca. They make traditional recipes like lamb and other roasted meats.
A typical menu of this restaurant could be : Aragonese salad with lettuce, tomato, olives and asparagus; roast leg of lamb with potatoes and for the dessert homemade cheesecake. All this accompanied by a good wine from the Somontano of Huesca.
This restaurant has a good quality-price ratio.

ART MODERNISM IN JACA (Modernism or modernist art)

This sytle was born Belgium in XX century. About this new art
is important the inspiration of nature and the use glass and iron x .

This art is used in buildings, furniture and in other art forms (picture, sculture...).

But this style is expensive (art.)

CARACTERISTICS OF (ART) MODERNISM

• Decorative art
• Inspiration in nature with vegetables and flowers shapes
• Inspiration in other cultures
• In this style use of femenine shapes is normal

In Jaca you can find (with a) different buildings of this style. There is a modernism route, we can begin in Casa Borau, situated in Avda. del primer Viernes de Mayo.

One of most important building is in this avenue, is Casa Valero, that it is inpiration in the style neobarroque.

In the calle Mayor, the house numbre 17 has decorative neogothic, number 20, there is a pharmacy where there is modernist furniture.

In the same street you can also see an original decorative building where we are moved to another andalucí art, like La Alhambra in Granada, beside there is another building with original shapes, this house belongs to the Abad family, the decorative is inspired in nature.

Author :Ruth Pino Blanco

RAPITAN FORT

Together with the Citadel, Rapitan fort is one of the (important) defensive works protecting the city of Jaca. It was started in 1884 and finished in 1904.The defensive importance of Rapitan fort lies in the fact that it is located strategically at the entrance to the Aragon valley and at the summit of a small mountain. These two elements making it defensively very important, but also making its construction very difficult, using a huge number of workers. It was used as a prison after the uprising in 1930. It was constructed at a time when there were numerous other defensive construccions in the Pyrenees.

Saint Peter's Castle

The Ciudadela or Saint Peter's Castle was build in 1595 by order of Felipe II.
It's a pentagonal construction with defensive walls, with each corner connected by circular paths. It was constructed for the threat of the invasion by French heretics.
It was based on plans created by Tiburcio Spanochi and finished in the 18th century.
Its interior is accessed by a mannerist gate bearing the shield of the Austrias, currently a symbol of the city of Jaca. Along with Liege (Belgium) this is the only complete pentagonal example.
It was declared an artistic monument in 1951 and restored in 1968.Also a winner of the Premio Europa.(prize)
There's a Miniatures Museum (museum of miniatures) inside the castle. This is a little text about its history...
"The origins of this Museum are rooted in the collection of lead figurines which were gathered from the sixties onwards by Carlos Royo-Villanova, a miniatures fan and history lover. The little lead soldiers and their accessories, all to the same scale, (1:87, or some 20 mm in height), were mostly produced by Valencia-based company Alymer, which sold the figurines under the Miniploms name.(name of) Armies from (all over) the world were formed with excitement and lots of patience, with more than 35.000 pieces covering many periods of history. The collection was acquired by Jaca Council in 1984 and displayed in the Fuerte Rapitán.
In 2001, it was proposed that the collection be moved to the Castle of San Pedro, better known as the Citadel, with an agreement signed between Jaca Council (owner of the collection) and the Army (owner of the facilities), which created the new Military Miniatures Museum. The following year the Ministry of Defence authorised that one of the fortified rooms of the Castle, a space of almost 700 square metres, could be used as a museum.
The month of August 2003 saw work commence on creating the new museum, with the start of a modern museographic and artistic project. The restoration, inventory and cleaning of all the pieces also began, as well as the creation of the backdrops and dioramas. Led by a professional team of technicians, a group of volunteers from Jaca efficiently worked together on the restoration of the figurines. The project was rounded off with the design and production of the technical aspects and complementary services."

The Pilgrim's Legend

An unknown pilgrim was walking through Canfranc. Nobody helped him. Nobody gave food, nobody gave a bed to sleep in.

The pilgrim was very sad and angry so when he was passing over the bridge on the River Aragon after the village, he raised his hand and said:

"Canfranc, you will be burnt three times and finally you will finish under the water!".

Maybe this in only a legend but if you want to know this village, go soon, Canfranc has been burnt twice already...

About Mary Pita

Mary Pita was a brave woman. When Spain was fighting with England, our heroine fought againt English people.
La Coruña , city situated in the north of Spain was a point to be conquered to England since is near the English Coast.
Mary Pita tried to organicer differente defensive points in an intelligent way. Although in those it was rare that a woman had any power, she was fighting to the end.
She died in the square that today has her name "Plaza de María Pita", where in front of her statue is the council.
This statue was a very original because in her hands she carries a lance and near her a flaming tourch that is always lit. It´s very nice!!!!
If you go to La Coruña you must visit this famous statue!

Pirene's Legend

Pirene was a pretty nymph, daughter of an iberian leader called Bebrix. When Herakles, in one of his travels (journeys), was passing there, Bebrix invited him to drink, and finally, Herakles seduced Pirene, who fell in love with him.

The following day Herakles left, and Pirene was abandoned. She was crying and crying, and she couldn't stand her pain.

Then she decided to be burnt and burned all the forest.

Herakles was looking at the sky, and he saw the black smoke. Then he ran back but he was late: Pirene was dying.

Herakles was sorry. He buried Pirene with the biggest rocks, making a great mountain chain.

When he finish, he placed snow there, and called these mountains "Pirineos", like the pretty nymph who was dead for his love.

Count Aznar

When the Count Aznar was fighting against the muslims in Jaca, the battle was very hard and in a moment he saw a big group of people coming to help him and his soldiers.
The muslims seeing his inferiority in numbers escaped and lost the battle.
Every First Friday of May we celebrate a festival in Jaca to commemorate the victory of the Count Aznar against the moors.

ALFONSO X, EL SABIO. LEYENDA CRISTO DE LA LUZ

ALFONSO X EL SABIO

He was a very important person, he was king of Castilla and León. He was son of the king Fernando III. He stimulated the reconquest of Jerez, Lebrija, Cádiz...
He stood out in the cultural order. He created cultural centers in Toledo, Sevilla and Murcia.

LEYENDA DEL CRISTO DE LA LUZ

A lengend tells, that when the king entered Toledo, his horse knelt down opposite to the mosque refusing to advance. They observed a light between the walls. The king gave the order to dig and they found a crucifix.

Jaca City Hall

City Hall of Jaca was built in 1544, the style is Aragonese Plateresque but you can appreciate other styles like Renaissance.But we prefer talking about the inside because it's funnier.
They are a lot of politicians talking about a lot of things but they really don't do anything.
We can say something good and it's that they are going to donate 60.000€ for the victims of Haiti.
The most special moment in the City Hall is when the anthem of the town is sung by the people in the fiesta of the First Friday of May.

SANTA CRUZ DE LA SERÓS

It´s a village of the Pyrenees, placed 20 km of Jaca, it has 150 habitants.
Historically the most important thing that happened there was the foundation of the Monastery of Saint Mary for the king Ramiro I, and his daughters lived there: infanta Teresa, Urraca and Sancha.
Infanta Sancha was a very important person for this village. She made a testament and they inherited numerous goods.
This village has two important churches : St Caprasio and Saint Mary, the two of Romanesque style.
The constructions of the houses are in the habit of being with few windows in order that the heat does not escape, that to the being a village or mountain is very important detail this one. Also chimneys have witch scarers, that are protection symbols in order that there was not entering any evil to the house.
About the house they had a small garden that vegetables were growing in for consumption, to the suburbs of the village, there were the gardens that are big extensions of area where they were growing flax and linen and then in the looms they were making and sheets. There are numerous fruit trees, like apple, pear trees...In the surroundings of the village the forest was where the people hunted the rabbits, wild boars,...also in autumn they were looking for mushrooms.

If you go to France you can find...

Natural attractions in France, the mountains like the Alps and the Pyrenees, you can find also beautiful beaches especially in Cote d'Azur and Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. In the other side we have the Atlantic Ocean with cities like Biarritz, Capbreton and La Rochelle.
We can find good beaches and seasides in Brittanny and Normandy.
Paris, the capital of France, is one of the most famous touristic cities in the world. If you go to Paris you can visit the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Museé d'Orsay and the Sacre Coeur in the Montmartre neighbourhood. You can take the Baton Mouche and sail on the Seine River.
If you like castles you can visit a lot of them in the Loire region where you can find beautiful ones like Chenonceaux and Chambord.
Gastronomic tourism is very important in France. Wines, cheeses, taboulet, and of course the "nouvelle cuisine".

The team

Think of a number

Today the language focus was on using numbers in English. We did a number puzzle. Here's another one.

1) Write down the number of the month you were born


2) Multiply it by 4

3) Add 13

4) Multiply the result by 25

5) Subtract 200

6) Add the day of the month on which you were born

7) Multiply by 2

8) Subtract 40

9) Multiply the result by 50

10) Add the last two digits of the year of your birth

11) Finally, subtract 10,500

IF THE RESULT ISN'T YOUR BIRTHDAY, TRY AGAIN!

Doña Sancha

Vía Tolosana in English



Doña Sancha was a very important woman. She had great power although it was difficult for a woman to have power in the Middle Ages.

She had two sisters called Teresa and Urraca. She also had two brothers called Ramiro I and García. (This is wrong, Ramiro was her father)

She married Count Ermengol III of Urgell and they didn´t have any children. When her husband died she decided that she would never marry again, so she went into the monastery of Santa María.

She was a powerful woman in Jacetania.

By Elena and Ruth