Travel back in the small town of Buitlago to the Middle Ages
Original Li Chuanhua
I never thought about what the European Middle Ages were like until I came to the small town of Buitlargo.
Buitlargo, an ancient city that has been silently forgotten over time, is one of the best preserved medieval towns around Madrid. It is an idyllic Spanish town and a favorite of literary youth.
The town of Buitlago, with its 2,000 inhabitants, is nestled among the Guadarrama Mountains in the north of Madrid, with tranquility, pleasant scenery and simple customs. To this day, this small town, known as a treasure of the Middle Ages, is surrounded by high walls and the Losoa River meandering through it to form a moat. When you come to a quiet town, the feeling of being relaxed is incomparable.
The oldest part of the town dates back to the 1st century BC.
The remains of the town's city walls are one of the most famous cultural attractions in the area. The walls were built between the 9th and 11th centuries AD to defend against attacks by the Kingdom of Christ, by the Muslims who occupied the area at the time. The heart of the city is located on a commanding height within a closed wall. As the area quickly saturates, it subsequently extends north and south separately.
The walls seen today are no longer what the Arabs built, but have been remodeled by Christians. Since the 11th century Adhanso VI, King of Castile, expelled the Arabs and conquered it. After the flag of the Kingdom of Castile was planted here, the Christians improved and rebuilt the walls to consolidate their military position. In the next 300 years, by the 15th century AD, the city walls played a very important role in the development of the town. Because it is well preserved, people can still climb the city walls.
I spent two euros on tickets to climb the city walls, and I was the only tourist on the empty walls. On the watchtowers of the city walls, the weapons used in the moat at that time, such as crossbows and trebuchets, silently recalled the fierce battles of the past in the sun. Standing on the city walls, gently touching the stones, and in the midst of it, I imagined myself as a soldier, or a general, or a local resident, in the distant Middle Ages, watching the Arabs and the Christian army on the city towers face off, the shadows of swords and swords, and the sound of killing.
It is said that the atmosphere in the town during the festival is quite strong, especially at Christmas, the whole town will be arranged as the scene of the birth of Jesus, the residents of the town will dress up as figures of the Jesus era, commemorate the birth of Jesus, they will decorate and place its ancient objects in the town, and even bring cattle and sheep to make time seem to travel back to ancient times. But I came by chance, it was still early in Christmas.
Listen to a local friend who tells you that there is a medieval market every September. During the 3-day bazaar, the central part of the town will be transformed into a medieval appearance. There are not only trades in the bazaar, but also some entertainment and cultural activities in the Middle Ages, and you can enter the Middle Ages with half a foot. But I still came unluckily, how retro and lively the market is, I can only imagine.
Walking slowly through the walled town, I met a group of local elementary school students led by the teacher, who ran on their backs under the direction of the teacher, especially hard. The warm and friendly little girl would slow down when she passed me, laughing and shouting "Euler" (A Spanish greeting), which was particularly cute.
In addition to the walls of the ancient city tower, you can also go to see the Picasso Museum.
The small Picasso Museum is in the center of the town, free to open, where the two receptionists are quite old, gentle and courteous, see me come slightly nodded, say something, see I can't understand Spanish, make a gesture please look at it, and then go busy, feel that they are doing research.
Picasso Museum
The museum was built in 1985. Why is there a Picasso museum in such a small town?
According to the information, the works of Picasso in this museum were all donated by a man named Arias. Arias was a barber, also known as Picasso's barber, during the Spanish Civil War, in order to escape the Franco regime, he went into exile in France, made a living from haircuts, and met Picasso, who was 28 years older than himself, in France, and the two became friends for many years.
After Picasso's death in 1973, Arias cried bitterly. In 1982, Arias donated his collection of Picasso's works to his hometown, and three years later, the Picasso Museum was built here.
The town's Picasso Museum is one of the few places in Spain where you can see the work of the famous painter Pablo Piccaso. There are 54 works in the museum, although there are no oil paintings, but there are drawings, lithographs, ceramic paintings, posters, illustrations, photographs, a collection of 7 copperplate engravings and 45 works completed between 1919 and 1955, the protagonists are all women who have appeared in the painter's life, including his wife Olga, mistress Marie Teresa Walter and so on.
I have been looking at the framed "Glinica" hanging on the wall for a long time, and I have seen this painting in the Sofia Museum of Art in Madrid and am already familiar with it.
Friends said that the exhibits here also include the barber tools that Picasso used, but I didn't see them.
Not far from the museum, you reach the church of Santa Maria del Castillo at the end of the town. The main entrance of the church, completed in 1321, is in the ornate Gothic style. The church is tall and slender and is a good example of the Mudejar style. The church was set on fire on March 14, 1936, and the appearance of the church I see today has been repaired by later generations.
When I saw the church door open, I walked in to see that it was a small town's own church, small in size, and had been fully integrated with the lives of the local residents. I stood in the doorway quietly looking at the statue of the Virgin in the distance, and I saw an old man slowly stepping out on crutches.
The town is very crowded and quiet. I was hungry, randomly looking for a small restaurant to eat, the girl at the counter would not speak English, find a young man, he would be a little English, I opened the translation software to order, looked at the name of the package and did not know what it was, he expressed that it was pork, afraid that I did not understand, just made a pig barking look, but also issued an exaggerated "hum" sound, I laughed.
The meal was meatballs and fries, I finished eating, he brought coffee, I haven't drunk it yet, he suddenly came and took it away, he was surprised to see me, he picked up my mobile phone, and entered a line of Spanish in the translation software, the crappy software translated "plate lost", I don't know, so, after a while, he brought a plate of meat and fries, which turned out to be part of the package. Seeing that I had a hard face, he came to ask me if I was full, got a positive answer, he took the initiative to bring me a tin foil packaging box to pack, and then brought coffee.
When I left, it was overcast, the swallows were flying low, and on this dry July in Madrid, I finally saw a few drops of rain, the only rain I had encountered on my trip to France and Spain, when I was already on the return bus.
Come to think of it, medieval Buitlargo also had swallows flying on the castle in the summer, right? After the green mountains receded, I gradually drifted away from Buitlargo, and the walls and castles made time seem to stand still 600 years ago, and I gradually traveled back to this world.