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[title]Gastronomic bus trips Barcelona-Alcanar
Want to explore a charming beach town and enjoy a great dining experience without having to worry about planning the route and even without touching a steering wheel? Alcanar has planned an outing that includes a bus ride to the town, a tour, a lunch of rice and seafood at a local restaurant and, after a walk on the beach, the return trip to Barcelona. The bus leaves Barcelona from Wednesday to Friday at 10am and on Saturday and Sunday at 11am and gets back at 8.25pm. The outing is available from April 2014 to March 2015.
December & January
Fira de Nadal and Mostra del Cava in Ascó
(First weekend in December)
When the cold starts to bite and people start thinking about Christmas, the town of Ascó holds its traditional Christmas Fair, with products of all kinds to adorn your house and nativity scenes, combined with a Cava Fair, in which Catalonia's most important wineries come to Ascó to present their wines and champagne, which the public can taste and buy in time for Christmas.
Jornades gastronòmiques dels cítrics d'Alcanar
(First two weeks of December)
Alcanar is one of the main producer of citrus fruits in Catalonia and they play an important role in the local cuisine. Tasty clementines and oranges are the protagonists of this gastronomic fair that features citrus fruits alongside other regional products. The mixture of sweet and sour flavours and of textures and colours is bound to surprise you.
Festes de Sant Antoni (Ascó and Alcanar)
(The nearest weekend to January 17)
One of the most important traditional festival in both municipalities. In Ascó it has been declared a National Heritage Festival to ensure its survival. In Alcanar it's a particularly colourful celebration with its dance of the shawls, which is also considered to be of national cultural interest in Catalonia, in which dancers of all ages wearing traditional costumes dance to jotas. In both cases, it's a major festivity that combines religious elements with entertainment like horse races, the Tres Tombs parade, firewood collecting and the traditional blessing of animals.
Fires de l'Oli (Móra la Nova and EMD Jesús - Tortosa)
Olive oil is a product par excellence of the Terres de l'Ebre and these fairs, in Móra la Nova (last week of January) and EMD Jesus (last week of February), bring together together many of the most important oil producing cooperatives and mills in the area every year. In the case of Móra la Nova, the event is an interregional fair with oil from Ribera d'Ebre, Terra Alta and Priorat, and is a great showcase for the quality and variety of its DOP (Denomination of Protected Origin) oils. In the case of the fair in EMD Jesús, the emphasis is on local produce, with tastings and an aioli competition. It coincides with the meeting of the pipe and drum players of the Catalan Countries, which gives a musical touch to complete this flavorsome event.
February & March
Jornades Gastronòmiques de la Galera (Alcanar and L'Ampolla)
In winter, shrimps are at their best, so restaurants in L'Ampolla and Alcanar, among other locations, devote gastronomic special menus to this delicious crustacean. If you visit the area at this time, you should really try some. They're finger-licking good!
Festa de la Clotxa de la Ribera d'Ebre
(Last Sunday in February)
If you don't know what a 'clotxa' is you don't know what you're missing. Its origins can be traced back to the meals that shepherds made for themselves out in the fields and over time it has become one of the most representative culinary specialities of the Riber d'Ebre region. Basically, you hollow out a loaf of bread weighing around half a kilo and then stuff it full of roasted onions, garlic, tomatoes and herring, together with lashings of olive oil. If you want to try some, you can do it every year in a different town in the region, in a popular fiesta unlike any other. In addition, the day of the festival marks the beginning of the Clotxa Gastronomic Fair, in which restaurants include clotxas on their menus, either in its traditional form or with some interesting twists.