ENGLISH PROJECT:VILLAGES

Studenti: Constantin Andreea Licar Anca Nitu Teodor Paraschiv Mihai

•Profesor:•Asist. Univ. Mihai Daniel Frumuşelu

MEDINACELI - SPAIN

During the Middle Ages, Medinaceli was a town that lay

between the lands of the Christians and the Muslims. Situated at

the confluence of the river Jalón, Medinaceli was the site of

the Celtiberian town Occilis. From the Roman era until 1994,

its saltworks were exploited for commercial use.

MAIN SIGHTS IN MEDINACELI

The Toro Jubilo annually occurs in Medinaceli, in which crowds of participants taunt a bull with balls of burning tar or turpentine (called "pitch") attached to his horns. Medinaceli is home to the only three-gates Roman arch in Spain, built in the 1st-3rd

centuries AD. The castle of Medinaceli served as the residence of the Dukes of Medinaceli until the

Ducal Palace (Palacio Ducal) was used for this purpose. Other buildings include the Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, whose abbots

fought with the bishops of Sigüenza to maintain the city's rights. The Convent of Saint Elizabeth (16th century) (Convento de Santa Isabel), which lies next to the church of San Martín, also stands in good condition. The beaterio (house inhabited by lay sisters) of San Román (Saint Romanus) is in ruins; it may have previously been a synagogue. Moorish-era remains include a stone gate, one of the few remains of the ancient city

walls.

MEDINACELI - "FIRE BULL" FESTIVAL The "Toro Jubilo" or "Toro de fuego" is a festival

that takes place in Medinaceli. The festival is a pre-Celtic ritual dating back to the Bronze Age. During this festival, a bull is tied to a post. Balls of tar are then placed on each horn of the bull and lit. A thick layer of mud on the back and face of the bull helps protect the bull from physical injury or burns. The bull is then released in the square, which has five lit bonfires symbolizing five martyrs.

REINE - NORWAY"Reine" is also the French word for the Queen.

Reine is a fishing village and the administrative centre of the municipality

of Moskenes in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the island

of Moskenesøya in the Lofoten archipelago, above the Arctic Circle, about 300

kilometres (190 mi) southwest of the town of Tromsø. The 0.29-square-kilometre

(72-acre) village has a population (2013) of 307. The population density is 1,059

inhabitants per square kilometre (2,740/sq mi).

The village has been a commercial centre since 1743. Despite of its remote

location, thousands of people visit this village annually

Reine Church is located here and it serves the northern part of the

municipality.

REINE – NORTHERN LIGHTS Every winter dedicated nature lovers and

photographers flock to the north for a chance to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).  Nowhere is more pictuesuqe than Reine, and its location 100 kilometers above the Arctic Circle makes it prime for such viewing. You chances are best from September to April.  The Lofoten Islands are a stormy destination and you will need a window with decently clear skies, but if this occurs, the setting will be epic.

REINEReine has been a commercial centre since 1743. Today tourism is important, and

despite its remote location, many thousands of people visit annually. The village is

situated on a promontory just off the European route E10 highway, which passes through

the village. Reine is located immediately to the south of Sakrisoya and Hamnøya.

The largest weekly magazine in Norway (Allers) selected Reine as the most

beautiful village in Norway in the late 1970s. A photograph over Reine from the

mountain Reinebringen has been used for the front page of several tourist brochures and

books.

Reine was recently the site of a Coca-Cola launch, referred to by the company as

"our smallest launch yet"

CONG - IRELANDCong is a village straddling the borders of County Galway and County Mayo,

in Ireland. Cong is situated on an island formed by a number of streams that surround it

on all sides.

Cong is located on the isthmus connecting Loughs Corrib and Mask, near the

towns of Headford and Ballinrobe and the villages of Clonbur, The Neale and Cross.

Cong is known for its underground streams that connect Lough Corrib with Lough

Mask to the north. It was also the home of Sir William Wilde, historian and father to

prominent playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer Oscar Wilde.

CONG Cong is the home of Ashford Castle, a luxury hotel, which was

converted from a Victorian faux lakeside castle, built by the Guinness family. Ashford Castle is a tourist attraction in its own right. Cong also features a ruined medieval abbey, Cong Abbey, where Rory O'Connor, the last High King of Ireland, spent his last years. It also is the origin of a piece of Celtic art in the form of a metal cross shrine called the Cross of Cong. The 'Cross of Cong' is now held in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. There is a High Cross in the village.

The Cong Canal, built over five years by Benjamin Guinness in the 1850s, was a failure. Though it was only 3 miles long it could not hold water, being dug into porous limestone.

CONG Cong was the filming location for John

Ford's 1952 Oscar-winning film, The Quiet Man, featuring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and Barry Fitzgerald. Much of the movie was filmed on the grounds of Ashford Castle. The town and castle area remain little changed since 1952, and Cong's connection with the movie make it a tourist attraction. (The movie is still celebrated by the local "Quiet Man Fan Club").

BIBURY - ENGLAND Bibury is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire,

England. It is on both banks of the River Coln which rises in the same (Cotswold) District and which is a Thames tributary. The village is centred 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast ofCirencester. Arlington Row here is a nationally notable architectural conservation area depicted on the inside cover of all United Kingdom passports. It is a main tourist destination for tourist visiting the traditional rural villages, teahouses and many ornate protected buildings of the Cotswold District, accordingly it is one of six places in the country featured in Mini-Europe, Brussels.

BIBURY The nineteenth-century artist and craftsman William

Morris called Bibury "the most beautiful village in England" when he visited it.

The village is known for its honey-coloured seventeenth century stone cottages with steeply pitched roofs, which once housed weavers who supplied cloth for fulling at nearby Arlington Mill. Until the 1980s, that building also housed the museum of Arlington Mill with a collection of period clothing, before it was shifted to Barnsley House. The Mill is now a private residence.