Verges and around
Verges, with remains of medieval walls and towers, is famous for its macabre Holy Week procession of very distinctive pagan origin, la Dansa del Mort, the dance of the dead. This is performed each Easter Thursday at the end of a long and rather tedious Passion Play, but, as the village bars remain impiously open all evening, is nevertheless well worth seeing.
Dance of the dead in Verges
Verges is at an important crossroads. The straight road from near Figueres to La Bisbal is fast and often quite dangerous; placenames along it such as Ultamort and Matajudaica [explained in the Introduction] are more intriguing than the villages themselvelves, although the countryside and the bridge over the river Ter are both quite attractive. The road uphill, away from the coast and towards Girona, is more rewarding.
Just past Jafre de Ter, an agricultural centre with an interesting church bell tower, you can turn right into a forest where you can find a delightful thermal spring. Colomers is a pretty village with a lovely church.
La Maso has a ruined castle which belonged to the Knights Templar, the most over-rated bunch of mystic, bigoted mafia-style extortionists and blackmailers known to medieval Europe, and quite rightly persecuted and destroyed by every government from England to Portugal. From Sobrànigues a back road to SantLlorenç de les Arenes fords the river Ter; this is very pleasant countryside for strolling. There is quite an important railway station at Flaça. It and Sant Joan Mollet are effectively one long boring village, at least from an outsider’s point of view, and are mentioned here mainly for map orientation purposes.
This article was written by Francis Barrett. See also Francis' excellent guide to Ireland irelandbyways.com
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