Cretes

TripAdvisor is only showing 1 hotel in Cretas if that’s the town you are referring to. There don’t seem to any towns of any real size anywhere in that area and the road to get there is very rural. Not certain what the draw to that town is. It doesn’t look like there’s a lot to do or see.

Thank you for checking for me. This is the town of my ancestors. I am excited to journey here and see where my ancestors lived

I did a little more checking at there are some hotels and a Parador in Tortosa. Tortosa is 18 miles from Cretas and there are a couple different ways to get to Cretas. Look at google maps. The roads will be two lane. If you took the route through the mountains, the road is still 2 lanes, but may have more curves and turns. The Parador in Tortosa looks very nice, like part of it used to be a castle. You can check out Paradors (a government run hotel chain) at www.parador.es/en.

Also if you have an address where the relatives used to live, plot it out on a map so you can go right to it when you get there. Depending on the amount of time you plan on visiting, do some research on some of the towns you’ll be passing to get to Cretas, or are near where you are staying. Some will have nice castles or castle ruins, churches, Roman bridges, or hermitages, or something worth seeing that you never thought of.

If you’ve never been to Spain, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I go back every few years.

If anything "cretEs" @jaimeelsabio... the etymology of the word is Catalan not Spanish... but the official name and the way locals refer to it is "Queretes" :)) Still, this habit of the Spaniards to translate everything they touch into their language will make you find the name Cretas quite often, in fact, for reasons now too long to explain here, you'll hear many of their inhabitants speaking in Catalan and refer to the town as Queretes yet, for example, the town hall's website is only in Spanish and uses the name Cretas instead.

Funny that you mention this @chrismastin because my great great grandma was from nearby, and my mom has a summer house in Horta de Sant Joan -which is probably the biggest "town" in the area and closest to Queretes. Queretes is in Aragon, in an area known as "La Franja" at the border with Catalonia, in fact, Horta de Sant Joan, which is merely 15 miles away, is already in Catalonia. La Franja (aka Franja de Ponent) literally means "the strip (of the east)". This thin strip of land has been part of Aragon since the kingdom of Aragon (founded around the year 1035) until today, never in its history has it been part of Catalonia although a big part of its population since Middle Ages have communicated in Catalan language due to the influence of the nearby Principality of Catalonia. This territory is a part of the so-called Catalan Countries.

Queretes' pop is just under 600 and Horta's under 1500. If I were you I'd book a hotel or, better still, a rural house in Horta which is way better communicated with the world than Queretes and it has a few more "facilities" (coffee shops, restaurants, shops, accommodation...). In Horta, you have for example, Hotel Miralles, Hostal Casa Barceló or Casa Vidiella among others.

Although you can reach both Horta and Queretes by bus, the schedules are rather limited so it's far better if you plan to rent a car and drive there.

While these are some of the counties less populated, the area is really something, among other things you have Els Ports de Besèit natural park -the TI office is in the town of Roquetes- as well as plenty of remains from ancient times, from prehistoric rock paintings at the Roca dels Moros (Moor's Rock) at the ravine of el Calapatà and at the caves at la Font Bernarda -in the municipality of Queretes- to the Iberian-Roman road and the medieval watchtowers and wall at Horta de Sant Joan... not to mention some sport activities that you can do such as canyoning, bycicling and lots more. Here some more ideas on things to do in and near Queretes.

Also, depending on the dates of your visit, you might stumble among one of the many heritage festivals celebrated across the year in most towns in Catalonia and Aragon.

If your ancestors lived in Queretes, you might like to see some glimpses of the town in its past. Note that the town has lost over two thirds of its population in the past 100 years though.

Enjoy!

re: name, I know it's confusing, but hey, 1000 years of history and, most importantly, politics do bring these things. Now you have a town which the Spanish -who forced into submission the Crown of Aragon territories after the military conquest in the 18th century and imposed Spanish as the only language in their empire- call "Cretas", the neighbouring Catalans -which is thought that during the 10th-12th centuries, after expelling the invading Moors, re-populated the area of La Franja, where the town is located- call it "Cretes"... yet many of the locals refer to it as "Queretes", which is a derivation of the word Cretes.

Enric, as usual you provide a wealth of information. I’m just happy I got the right town. I haven’t spent much time it that part of Spain. That will have to be a trip after the next one that’s already planned.

Enric. Wow! Fabulous background and wealth of information. What is the phonetic difference between the two names or do they sound the same.?
I have been say Cretes phonetically as,
“Kree tas”
How are you saying pronoucing Queretes? I’m thinking “coo yer tes”?

Hi!

Well, Catalan also has "regional accents", so if you were to pronounce it in Catalan from Barcelona, where I'm from, it'd be "kre-tæs" (the later vowel is a mix between an "a" and an "e") Listen to this, is a different toponym but it's also ending in "-es" so you can have an idea how it would sound: https://forvo.com/word/aig%C3%BCes_mortes/#ca However, in the area of Terra Alta, the Catalan county closest to Cretes, the pronunciation varies slightly and the "æ" is pronounced as a proper "e", so it'd sound as "kre-tes" -pretty much as written.

"Queretes" on the other hand would sound quite straightforward, like "ke-reh-tes" Again, in Catalan from Barcelona, many "e" are more neutral and would sound like "æ", so more like "kæ-reh-tæs". The accent is on the second syllable: "que-RE-tes"

For a clearer understanding of the "æ" -which is unfamiliar in English- listen to the correct pronunciation of "Barcelona" with a Barcelonian accent: https://forvo.com/word/barcelona/#ca note how the "a" and "e" vowels are what we call "neutral e's" (=æ)

HOWEVER, don't fret about pronunciation, contrary to other languages, in Catalan language there are relatively few instances in which the wrong pronunciation can cause misunderstanding, and this case is not one of them. Besides, except for a few words, we're easy going with non-natives, LOL!

PS: One of the words we tend NOT to be so easy going with --in fact, it unnerves a lot of us-- is when people say (in English): "barcelona" with an attempt of South American pronunciation instead of https://forvo.com/word/barcelona/#ca , which is the correct way, in Catalan, moreover noting that in English you don't have the Spanish "c" sound. Yet politeness is deeply rooted, and it's unlikely anyone will correct you.

On the PS note Enric brought up - yes it always gets to me too when people learn that I am from Barcelona (especially in North America) and they say "don't you mean Bar-th-e-lona!" but I smile (and cringe) and can't bring myself to correct them... maybe one day I will have the courage :)

I "feel" you Carlos, I totally feel you, LOL!

Can you solve this riddle? My grandmother considered herself an Aragonesa. She was born and lived in the Phillipines. She spoke Castilian .
Her father, Ventura de la Vega was a native of the PI, but was believed to have been Spanish. The dots do not match.

good riddle indeed :))))

The Philippines used to be part of the Spanish empire, but that is common knowledge and does not answer the riddle. Maybe it is something similar to the Catalan community in Cuba, many moved there when it was part of the Spanish empire too, and some returned and some stayed after the Spanish-American War of 1898.

In Catalunya we have something called a Cremat which is a drink that is related to the history of the Catalan immigrants to Cuba/The New World. Cremat is brewed outside at night in a large pot, or I have even used a paellera. You mix rum, sugar, spices (particularly cinnamon), lemon peel, and some form of coffee and then set it on fire! The flames are really quite pretty. Once the liquid reduces a bit you serve the hot drink in a cup.

When preparing a Cremat one sings Havaneres, which are melancholic songs about Cuba and the colonial empire in the 19th century (usually it is about loves left behind in Havana or something along those lines).

Sounds like an ancestry.com question. However, if your ancestors were born in Cretes and you have birth dates, and if you’re there when the town hall (assuming it has one) is open, it should be able to look up birth records. The local church should have baptism, marriage and death records. Everything is recorded in a book someplace, which I’m fairly certain have not been digitized.