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Turégano - and a tale.

Please bear with me !
A year ago I passed by here with my girlfriend and we weren't impressed for a number of reasons which I won't go into now.
I noted the castle with the crane and posted one or two photos on ipernity and thought no more of it.
Until today.
I have a Saturday morning private class with an architect. She is a highly driven and motivated young lady and she disclosed, by co-incidence, that she was the architect in charge of the renovation of the church at Turégano. I mentioned that we had been there last year and I referred to the castle. We got to talking about the town.
It transpires that I was wrong. The 'castle' is in fact a 12th century church that was fortified by the Bishop of Segovia in the following century (the bell tower is a 17th century addition).
Her brief is to make it a more touristy, and therefore a more economic proposition. The town council has a problem. The main industry here is a giant pig farm (an enormous bacon factory in other words) and the smell can be indescibable! They need the farm for the jobs it provides but they also need the benefit of a major tourist attraction to counter the negative aspects)!
She showed me the plans (all her her own work and beautiful works of art in their own right), the reasoning behind the reconstruction and many other very informative facts. When complete, I can't wait to re-visit! And I will insist that my girlfriend comes too, although she will be reluctant! And we will put clothes pegs on our noses!
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8 comments

Erhard Bernstein said:

Hm, I doubt that the negative effects of the smell can be overcome by a renovated church - most tourists wouldn't want to go there just like your girl friend. But would be happy to learn that I am wrong ...
4 years ago

Gilbert H said:

Il faut choisir d'y aller en hiver ! il y aura moins d'odeurs !!!!!
4 years ago

Jenny McIntyre said:

Oh dear, I'm afraid the smell of pigs is a massive turnoff. There is a pig farm on the Devon side of the M5 and it's horrendous if you have the windows open in your car. Maybe you do eventually get used to smelling this odour, but tourists won't be there long enough to get used to it. Even if the church is renovated to a wonderful condition, it wouldn't be enough for me to waiver the odour!!
4 years ago

Keith Burton said:

What a happy coincidence! It will be interesting to see if her plan works................as has been said, the pig farm is going to be a big turn-off for a lot of people!
4 years ago

Andy Rodker said:

Erhard,
Gilbert,
Jenny,
Keith,
Thank you.
To be fair it wasn't noticeable when we were there, but I suppose if the wind is in the wrong direction ... !
The local authority knows it has one resource, the fortified church and one problem (which is also a blessing as far as the local economy is concerned!). The council was recently PSOE (labour) and they approved the funding for the renovation and beautification of the church / castle. The new council is PP (conservative), and they wouldn't ratify the budget for a while. My student was on tenterhooks because it is a very important career move for her. She was delighted when they finaly approved it last week!
4 years ago

slgwv said:

There was an enormous feedlot outside Goodland, Kansas, where my in-laws used to live, and it would generate quite an ... aroma. When complaints ensued about the stench, typically when the wind was blowing toward town, the owner's reaction was, "Smells like money to me!" ;)

Best of luck to your student even so!
4 years ago

Gudrun said:

Tourism and the smell of pigs are rather hard to reconcile;-)
4 years ago

Andy Rodker replied to Gudrun:

So very true!
4 years ago