Morata de Tajuña: the world capital of chocolate palms celebrates its big party

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Morata de Tajuña is once again the world capital of palmeritas.

Between today and tomorrow, the town in the southeast of the region expects to distribute at its Fair about 120,000 of its famous puff pastry with chocolate or, in other words, 5,000 kilos of glory.

Quite a marathon for the local bakeries.

Today there are six, but at first it was only

.

This was 21 years ago.

"My father, Luis, would go into the oven and never come out. With him they became famous," says Loli de la Torre.

"The others started doing them when they saw our success."

The famous artisan palmeritas.MGH

The family has opened a store this year on the main street, a few meters from the Plaza Mayor. It's 9 in the morning, but she has been working since 5:00, like every day, with her husband José and their two children. Its secret has been told before: a syrup bath that turns the normally dry puff pastry into a delight that is

. Today Loli will distribute the

of the Fair. A madness of 2.80 by 2.40 meters that will be joined by pieces as if it were a puzzle.

Although each bakery has put its touch to the palmeritas (glazed, oreo, filled with cream ...), if there is a light version we do not know.

The good news is that we are in the fertile plain of the Tajuña river, which was the orchard of Madrid.

Vegetables are not lacking, but even less excuses to

on foot or by bicycle.

The Greenway of the Tajuña.FFE-VÍAS VERDES

The greenway of the tajuña

In this sense, to make the

thing is to take the Vía Verde del Tajuña, a

road

that begins in Arganda del Rey (Metro Line 9) and ends 49 kilometers later in Ambite.

It is the old railway line of the Tajuña, where the

rattled

, full of vegetables until 1953.

Suitable for all audiences, this greenway follows the river through a landscape covered in

.

Now, at the height of Morata, pedaling or walking is flooded with history.

Because next to the vestiges of the industrial and mining past of the town appear the remains of

one of the key episodes in the Spanish Civil War.

A machine gun nest by the road.

Anyone who wants to know in depth this historical event can go to one of the

published by the City Council on its website. "It is an immense front, so we usually show certain points where there are guard posts, command posts, rear guard camps where tanks were repaired, caves where up to 400 soldiers could get into," explains guide Javier Cadenas.

Although if there is a place where the tragic affront is condensed, it is in the

, which the visitor finds in the Mesón El Cid.

It is a unique place, full of memories and objects that include newspapers of the time, photographs, inkwells with which the soldiers wrote their letters, bazookas, mortars, bullets, helmets and trench art that

, a resident of Morata, has been gathering throughout life.

Goyo Salcedo in the Museum of the Battle of Jarama.MGH

Now, historical passion came after necessity. He was just a seven-year-old boy in the post-war era when Goyo went out into the fields with his father in search of shrapnel. No one tells it better than him: "The scrap that was thrown away for three years was very valuable because Spain was closed and there was no raw material.

At least it alleviated your hunger."

After having a gypsy pot with local vegetables at the inn, the Morata tour can continue along the

, another active plan that starts just ahead.

It is ideal to enter the

that draw the landscape.

There is a point where stopping is a must, the Huerta de Angulo mill, the only one in operation in the region.

The Milling Museum.MGH

This is how María Rosa shows it to the visitor: opening the hatch and letting the force of the water move the huge grinding stone.

The guide knows everything about the so-called

, but if there are doubts, you can always consult an expert.

The son of the last miller is a neighbor of the town.

FOUR TRACKS

Greenway of the Tajuña

.

From Arganda del Rey, which can be reached by metro, to Ambite.

About 49 km.

paved roads that follow the course of the Tajuña river.

More info: www.viasverdes.com

Path Via de la Vega.

8.37 km circular hiking route.

next to the river between riverside forests, crops and orchards of the formerly known as the garden of Madrid.

Milling Museum

.

Old flour mill in the fertile plain restored with all the machinery and grinding tools.

It can be seen in operation during the guided tour.

Mesón El Cid.

You have to try the typical 'olla ribereña', a stew with meat and vegetables from the riverbank.

The

, the Goyo Salcedo collection,

is located here

.

More information.

On the Morata de Tajuña Tourism website morataturismo.es

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