My dream holiday: LOJA

Yesterday I came back from my dream holiday in Loja. I always wanted to go to the Almazara Hotel. It´s next to the town of Riofrío. I went with my wife and my child. To get to the hotel there is a road with many potholes.

When I was driving my car to the hotel from the city of Loja, I went over one of these potholes and damaged the car’s sump, causing all the oil to spill out onto the road. We arrived at the hotel in a taxi.

We stayed in a room with a good view of the stable where there were many horses, we had a fantastic view of the mountains.

We went to the birth of the Riofrio River and we went to all the famous restaurants. We also went to see the trout and sturgeon in Riofrio village.

Every afternoon we swam in the big pool that was in the hotel. Next to the pool there was a bar and there were deck chairs around the pool where I always sunbathed. Those were the best moments of each day.

Juan Antonio Ortiz Lizana, 3 CAL

La Semaine Sainte de Loja - Sara Fernández

Le théâtre impérial - Noelia Villalba

La mairie de Loja - María Carmen Ruiz Rodríguez

Le Jardin de Narváez - María Carmen Pérez Ortiz

La croix Periquete - Paqui López

Vera Cruz - Emilia Maldonado

Le lavoir Alfaguara - Eduardo Gómez

Loja - Verónica Hidalgo

Loja - Maribel Ropero

Loja - Ana Pacheco

Loja - Sierra Gorda

Loja´s cultural offer, by Mª Ascensión Moral

Loja has an important and large cultural offer. Among its festivals, we can mention the Semana Santa, declared a festival of National Tourist Interest of Andalusia. 

Loja has the Alcazaba Historical Museum, the Historic Interpretation Centre, and the Riofrío Environmental Interpretation Centre, which offer an interesting perspective on heritage and natural resources. And at the Water Interpretation Center, we can get an idea of the important relation between Loja and water. 

The cultural agenda includes other events, such as concerts and festivals; for example, Palma Rock or Volaera Flamenca, which are celebrated during the year and are added to the numerous exhibitions that take place in public spaces and private rooms. 

Loja, by Gema Piqueras

I LIKE MY CITY: LOJA 

Loja is a quite big and beautiful city in the South East of Granada. There are a lot of slopes, but it is quite lovely.  

PEOPLE AND FOREIGNERS. 

People are very nice and helpful with foreigners. They show them the city , squares, parks, restaurants, hotels, etc. Foreigners like eating good food in Loja: croquettes, potato omelette, serrano ham and olive oil. They drink beer and good wine. They buy boxes of  Loja rolls, which are really delicious. 

SHOPS. 

Shops in Loja are very interesting. Clothes are cheap; however, they are high quality. There are a lot of supermarkets, butcher´s and greengrocer´s.  

WATER. 

There are a lot of springs and fountains in Loja: for example, El Pilar, The 25 Pipes, Cold River, The Frontil, The Hades, etc. There are two factories of bottling water in Loja: their names are Fontarel y Font Natura. Their water comes from two springs called  El Pilar and The Dam respectively. 

MONUMENTS. 

La Alcazaba is an important and beautiful monument in this city, because it represents the history of Loja. 

The House, Gardens and the Mausoleum of Narvaez, duke of Valencia. There are  19th Century monuments, and the House of Narvaez is the council of Loja nowadays. 

Other important monuments are the Church of La Encarnacion and the Church of Saint Gabriel, whose façade is considered national monument because Diego de Siloe made  it. 

ARTS AND MUSIC. 

People of/ from Loja love arts and music. There are some Arts Academies. The Popular University is an important Arts and Music School.  

The Conservatory is very important in Loja. People like music very much and they sign up their children to learn it. There are some concerts at the Imperial Theatre. 

FOREIGN LANGUAGES. 

The Official Language School is very interesting. I go there two days a week, on Monday and Wednesday. Learning foreign languages helps you to improve your life. 

There are social advantages because you make new friends and traveling is funnier. 

On the other hand, teachers are very creative and lovely. They teach foreign languages very well. They love their job. 

Source of the 25 Pipes, by Ángel Matogo Miranda

This source is located in the Neighborhood of the Alfaguara, next to the current building of the Local Police and the laundry of the Alfaguara. It is a 16th century fountain that was restored in the 20th century.

It has its origin in the remote muslim times and its history is related to the existence of secret passages that communicated the fortress with a water source that supplied the walled city.

It is also called Fuente de la Mora due to a legend that says that its waters saw a beautiful story of love between a young moor and her Christian lover.

According to the legend, whoever drinks from each spout will find love that year.

Loja - avant - après

LOJA

AVANT               

Autrefois, dans les années 20, la rue de San Agustín était la rue principale de Loja, un petit village de Granada. On y pouvait trouver les meilleurs restaurants, cafétérias, magasins et banques. À cette époque-là, il n'y avait pas beaucoup de voitures, mais il y avait plus de voitures à chevaux. Les personnes s'y promenaient á pied aussi. Avant, il n'y avait pas d’immeubles, les personnes qui  y vivaient étaient les plus riches.

APRÈS   

Aujourd'hui, la rue de San Agustín est encore la rue principale de Loja. Maintenant, on  y peut vivre dans des immeubles ou dans des maisons particulières, y manger dans les restaurants, y garer les voitures, s'y asseoir sur les bancs, y acheter dans les magasins, etc. Aussi, tu peux te promener sur les trottoirs.

Actuellement, il y a la mairie où le maire gouverne la ville.

  

Demander et dire son chemin II

DEMANDER ET DIRE SON CHEMIN

Pour aller de l’École Officielle de Langues à la mairie, prenez d’abord la première rue à gauche,  il faut continuer tout droit.  Après,  vous arrivez à la rue « Paseo de Narvaez » et vous devez continuer tout droit. Puis, traversez le pont et longez le fleuve « Genil ».

Ensuite, continuez jusqu’à la place « Puente » et traversez-la. Maintenant vous êtes dans la rue « Sin Casas ».

Tout de suite après, tournez à gauche pour arriver à la place « Joaquin Costa ». Traversez-la ! Après, prenez la première rue á gauche. Au fond de cette rue, tournez à droite pour arriver á la place de la « Constitucion ». Continuez tout droit et traversez la place.  Au fond de celle-ci, tournez à gauche.

Finalement, la mairie se trouve au coin de la rue « Duque de Valencia ».

Élève : Encarnación Serrano, 1ère année A FR

Loja - Demander et dire son chemin

DEMANDER ET DIRE SON CHEMIN

-           Excusez-moi, Madame, pouvez-vous m’expliquer le chemin pour aller à la Mairie de Loja, s’il vous plaît?

-           Oui Monsieur, elle est à 11 minutes d’ici, ce n’est pas loin. Allez tout droit et au coin de la rue tournez à gauche, vous allez voir un parc ensuite continuez tout droit. Puis il faut traverser le pont « Gran Capitan ». Après tournez à gauche vers la place « El Puente ». Ensuite tournez à droite dans la rue « Pérez Garzón » et continuez tout droit, puis vous devez longer une grande église qui se trouve à gauche. Au bout de la rue tournez à droite et continuez dans la rue « Sin Casas ». Puis tournez à gauche et traversez la place « Joaquin Costa ». À gauche, en face de la place, il y a des escaliers. Vous montez les escaliers et vous êtes arrivé à la rue « Duque de Valencia ». À gauche vous allez voir la Mairie de Loja.

-           Oh! C’est très difficile pour arriver à pied. Je crois que je vais prendre un taxi.

-           Je suis désolée Monsieur.

-           Merci beaucoup Madame.

Élève : Ana Mª Barrios, 1ère année A FR

Festivities in Loja

In Loja there are a lot of popular festivities, which I am going to describe as follows:

In February, people in my town celebrate a festivity known as "La Candelaria". In it, a few days before it takes place, people look for sticks and put one on top of the others and on 2nd February they burn them and after that they have a barbecue, on this day it is typical to eat a bread thread.

Loja's Holy Week

It's, undoubtedly, the most important manifestation of popular culture of Loja, and it's based on the devout tradition of a large part of the society of this city, as their devotion for the Jesus' Passion  of Nazareth is taken out to the street in a aesthetic, artistic and cultural performance. This celebration was declared of National Tourist Interest of Andalusia.