Hugs from Julio!

Still thinking of you lot!

Get my best regards from Campo Real, yo can still follow and find me at http://julioteacher.blogspot.com/

Take care!

Julio


Campo Real is a town just 39 km away from Madrid located by the eastern boundary of its metropolitan area,a town of recognised gastronomic prestige. It lies in the basin of the River Tajuña, very close to Arganda del Rey. It has a population of over 3,500 inhabitants.

It is well known for its high quality food products (olives, olive oil, and mainly its sheep cheese). Its church of Nuestra Señora del Castillo of a Romanic-gothic transition style dates back to the 12th century. In 1981 it was declared a provincial historic-artistic monument.

It is known that the definitive name of the municipality was coined in the late 16th century, during the reign of Felipe II.

The church of Santa María del Castillo was originally a Templar convent which dates back to the 12th c., and in 1981 it was declared a provincial historic-artistic monument. Recently restored, climbing the steps which access the temple offers a remarkable view of the surrounding area given the rise on which it stands. The other noteworthy architectural buildings in the town are also religious: the shrines of the Santísimo Cristo de la Peña, from the 18th c., and located close to the Plaza Mayor; that of Las Angustias, from one century earlier, on the outskirts of the village; and that of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, also from the 16th c., which can be found at the entrance to the historic centre of the town.

In Campo Real you can visit the Museo de Alfarería (the Pottery Museum), a true storehouse of traditional rural instruments, which is ideal for reliving the more and more distant past of the area.

In Campo Real olives are the real protagonists and the town offers all the possible varieties of this product. However, it is the dressing which enhances the quality of the olives, and it is a dual process which sweetens them and dresses them via a very special and laborious use of garlic, thyme, fennel, oregano, bay leaf and onion. The olive, which was worthy of receiving the culinary distinction of the denomination of quality,awarded by the autonomous government of Madrid, is joined by sheep's cheese, virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil. And we must not forget the wines of Campo Real.

The fiestas of the municipality are very lively and it is worth paying them a visit: those of San Isidro are on 15 May; those of the Santísima Virgen de los Remedios on 8 September; and those of the Santísima Cristo de la Peña, from 13 to 18 September, are the main ones.