You've got to 'brielieve' me!

We have stumbled upon a huge festival today. The festival of cheese, known as 'Fira de St Ermengol' locally. A real pleasure to have been and to have seen so much wonderful food, some of which was sampled along the way. 

Arriving in the town of La Seu d'Urgell we struggled to park. The parking took an age to find and we immediately realised that we were at a major event. The parking was a bit of a dark art, but we got there and began the dawdle down the road to the festival. It was a first today, as socks AND shoes were required!!! The surrounding hills and mountains of the impending Andorran landscape meant that the temperature was decidedly chilly in the morning and the toes could bear it no longer as they curled up together huddled inside my crocs. So socks it was then. And not crocs!!!

Our amble lead us through the old part of town and then the newer part of town. There were literally hundreds of stalls full of home produce, meats, veg, art, crafts, delicacies, music, market stalls, food stalls and so much more. Included in all of this was a cobbler making some wonderful shoes. Both Clare and I were very tempted, but the €85 price tag would have blown our budget somewhat. The guy was there making the shoes in front of us too and spoke no English when telling us what he was doing. Lovely chap though!

There were so many meats on dispay too. Quite something to behold!

As well as the veg, olives etc, there were these vats of pickled olives blushed with some redness; I felt they looked rather like pickled sheep eyeballs.

A 2 and a half our mooch about, and we were beginning to wonder where the cheese was. Quite a key ingredient seemed to be missing from the cheese festival. We eventually found itin the sports hall for the town, the last place we visited. 

It was a proper cheese scrum down. There was wine, cheese and a glut of people fighting for a taste of all the available samples. The pungent air gave off good signals for cheese lovers. I do love my cheese, but I also am a little picky too. I have never really liked goats or sheep cheese. I feel that the food I eat shouldn't smell like the live version of the creature from whence it came. I have always found goats cheese a little 'goaty'. So off to hunt down the old 'vaca' cheese. My first sample led to a purchase. A moderately pungent affair with hints of sock and stale water. It is quite a solid cheese with a smarter of blue to it. Do I like it? Yes, very pleasing. Did I understand the farmers description? No. Does it matter? Not a jot! Will it last until the 25th of January? Well, there's a lot of it and no one else in family will give it a go, so possibly!

To finish with, we bought some lovely cakes off a man learning to speak english so that he can join his family in America. We do meet some people with interesting stories and lives.

The cheese festival was great though. We delighted in the sheer volume and enthusiasm of the locals about their produce.

Great!

Ed