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Delighting in the Lavender Fields of Central Spain
13.07.2024 - 06:58 / nytimes.com
A day in Brihuega during the lavender bloom requires only one set plan: Get to the fields by sunset, to view an unexpected, lush swath of purple as far as the eye can see, with the orange glow of the Spanish sun directly behind it.
Brihuega, a small medieval town in the roughly 4,700-square-mile province of Guadalajara and about an hour’s drive from Madrid, is surrounded by farmland, villages and nature preserves of brown and soft-green hues. But each year in summer, on fields where some of the bloodiest battles of the Spanish Civil War were once fought, those colors change with the bloom of a thousand hectares of lavender, the equivalent of about 2,500 acres or 3,000 American football fields.
In the past decade, the lavender harvest has revitalized Brihuega, drawing welcomed visitors — and their euros — with natural beauty rivaling vacation favorites like Provence in France.
“Not to say anything bad about the French, but the Spanish, we’re maybe more — dicharacheros,” said Ángel Corral Manzano, the town’s major lavender farmer, using a difficult-to-translate Spanish term that means outgoing and talkative. “We’re very eager, excited to welcome you.”
I first learned about Brihuega while studying in the nearby university town of Alcalá de Henares. Craving manchego cheese and jamón Ibérico one afternoon, I stumbled into Vinoteca Esencias del Gourmet, a wine bar. While I feasted on croquetas and cheeses and drank a spicy syrah, the bar owner, Javier Hernandez, told me about his hometown, Brihuega.
For generations, his family was the town churreros, the churro-makers. But like many young people in small Spanish villages, Mr. Hernandez left Brihuega.
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