La Alberca

La Alberca is a village in the province of Salamanca, the capital of the Sierra de Francia comarca, at 1,048 metres above sea level. It keeps an old tradition: a pig called San Anton is blessed on June 13 and let loose in the streets, where the neighbours feed it, and it is raffled at the church doors on January 17, the feast of Saint Anthony. The Flag Day pilgrimage carries a banner taken by the village women in a fight against the Portuguese in 1475, a victory still celebrated with wine. The Peña de Francia festival is on September 8.