Straying off track: daydreaming, Belchite, then flickr.

Sometimes when my mind wanders off, it travels the long dusty roads of Aragón to the ruins of Old Belchite. Away from the once imperial city of Zaragoza, whose nightlights were gazed upon by a young Eric Blair and where an old slaughterhouse has been transformed into a public library, we travel past olive groves and along ancient roman roads tracing lonely straight lines through the expanse of the Aragonese countryside: "Polvo, niebla, viento, y sol/ Donde hay agua una huerta" (Dust, fog, wind, and sun/Where there is water, an orchard) so goes the song; "this land is Aragón".

"Resistencia" by SantiMB CC License: A NC ND

Belchite Viejo is a haunting, if not haunted, place. It was a key battle site in the twilight of the Spanish Civil War and was left in ruins after the eventual defeat of the Republican forces as a monument to the dead. A new Belchite was built next to it and the residents have looked onto the ruins of their old homes ever since.

Like much of the history from the Spanish Civil War, Belchite is left officially untouched, perhaps so that it can be slowly eroded from the landscape by the baking summer sun and the relentless North Wind el cierzo, that chills the bones throughout the winter, like memories gradually fading from the public consciousness. This pact of forgiving has silenced a generation whose stories could bring life to these unnameable skeletons in Spanish culture and I worry that it has cast a sense of guilt on those who have things that they can never forget. I think I am straying off topic.

If I were of a more poetic bent I would be able to conjure up the effect of walking around Belchite Viejo but I lack the skill to do so. Instead, thanks to flickr, you can get a flavour of the place, which was also used as a location for the films "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and Guillermo Del Toro's beautiful "Pan's Labyrinth".

I was introduced to flickr by two locals from Belchite: Belinda and Isaac Baquero, both use flickr to share their photography (analogue SLR and digital SLR respectively) and be part of an online photographic community.

Pueblo viejo de Belchite by pocketmonster CC License: A NC ND

The inscription, written before CC and therefore cited often and without attribution was written by another Baquero, Natalio, whose brother Adolfo I was lucky enough to meet but passed away earlier this year.
[My translation]
Village of Old Belchite, no more are you walked (or haunted) by youth, no more do they hear the jotas (traditional songs) that were sung by our fathers.