Halfway between Manzanera and Mora de Rubielos the car radio signal dies. The rest is silence, and a lonely road winding through a high plateau ringed with crags and pine forests. The shepherd leading his flock through the dry stalks of a fallow field is the only person I see on this half-hour journey.
汽车行至曼萨内拉(Manzanera)与莫拉-德鲁别洛斯村(Mora de Rubielos)半途时，车载收音机就收不到任何广播信号了。此时万籁俱寂，只剩孤零零的公路蜿蜒于峭壁林立与松树密布的高原山区。在整个半小时的车程中，领着羊群穿过一片布满干麦秆的休耕地的牧羊人成了我们见到的唯一的人。
Welcome to Gúdar Javalambre. This remote county in eastern Spain covers 2,350 sq km but contains only 24 villages and fewer than 9,000 inhabitants. It belongs to Teruel, one of the three provinces of Aragón and a region best known in Spain for Teruel Existe (“Teruel exists”), a citizens’ campaign launched in 2000 to call for more investment and to fight depopulation. This land of massive skies and tiny population densities — as low as 3.7 people per square kilometre — reminds you how vast and empty much of Spain still is, away from the boisterous cities and teeming coasts.
欢迎莅临古达尔-哈瓦尔布雷县(Gúdar Javalambre)。这座位于西班牙东部的偏僻县面积达2350平方公里，但全县只有24个村落，居民不到9000人。它隶属于特鲁埃尔省(Teruel)，是阿拉贡自治区(Aragón)所属三省之一，该地区以“拯救特鲁埃尔”(Teruel Existe)名闻西班牙，这是2000年发起的一项全民运动，旨在呼吁更多投资以及与积极应对人口减少现象。这片地广人稀之地（每平方公里只有3.7人）提醒诸位西班牙仍是幅员辽阔、人烟稀少的国家，远非喧嚣的都市以及人满为患的沿海地区给人的印象。
Gúdar Javalambre’s efforts to forge a future are a fine example of the adage that necessity is the mother of invention. The climate here can be harsh and the soil is too poor and dry for arable agriculture. Communications are not all they could be. Yet the county is doing what it can to get ahead. As interest grows in lesser-known parts of Spain’s unspoilt interior, visitors are increasingly being drawn to Gúdar Javalambre’s wild natural beauty and gourmet products, such as its superb air-dried ham. There is good infrastructure at ski resorts such as Valdelinares and Javalambre, and the new A23 motorway has brought Valencia airport within a 90-minute drive. The absence of light pollution in the skies — plus the news that Galáctica, an observatory/museum of global importance, is scheduled to open here this year — has led to the rise of “astro-tourism” in the county, with guided starlight walks.
古达尔-哈瓦尔布雷为开创美好未来付出的不懈努力，绝好地诠释了“需要是发明之母”的格言。这儿气候条件恶劣、土地太过贫瘠与干旱，不适于农业耕作，此外交通也极不便利。然而，该县正竭尽所能利用一切可利发展的条件。随着游客对人迹罕至、鲜为人知的西班牙内陆地区兴趣渐浓，他们越来越流连忘返于古达尔-哈瓦尔布雷县的自然旖旎风光与美食（如美不胜收的风干火腿），巴尔德利纳雷斯(Valdelinares)与哈瓦尔布雷(Javalambre)等滑雪胜地的基础设施一应俱全，新的A23号高速公路通车后，距巴伦西(Valencia)机场仅1.5小时车程。此地毫无光污染以及世界级Galáctica天文台/博物馆将于今年正式开馆的消息，引发了该县的“天文观测游”热，即导游引领的星夜漫步旅游。
But the most remarkable draw is the truffle. Until the 1960s the sought-after fungus was little known in Spain and European truffle culture was dominated by the French and Italians. But since the discovery that the “black diamond” could be grown in the meagre soil of Teruel, the province has experienced a production boom. Planting began in the 1980s and some 6,500 hectares of truffle-producing carrasca oak trees are now under cultivation.
但最引人注目的旅游项目是找挖松露。在上世纪60年代前，这种珍稀美味在西班牙鲜为人知，欧洲的松露文化主要由法国人与意大利人打造。但自从发现这种“黑色钻石”能存活于特鲁埃尔贫瘠的土壤后，该省就开始了大规模种植。上世纪80年代正式拉开了种植松露的序幕，如今该地区播种了约6500公顷生长松露的矮橡树林。
I have come to the county for a long weekend at La Trufa Negra, a hotel whose pioneering “truffle tourism” package includes a truffle-hunting expedition with dogs, a truffly tasting-menu and truffle-based therapies in the hotel spa. Now in its fourth year, “trufiturismo” at the hotel has grown to the point where it brings in 60 or more customers on any given Saturday, in a season that lasts from November until March.
我们入住于古达尔-哈瓦尔布雷县的La Trufa Negra酒店度周末长假，这家酒店推出的“松露旅游套餐”包括了猎狗找寻松露旅行、品尝松露定价餐以及松露spa。如今酒店的“松露旅游套餐”已推出四年，生意火爆，每个周六能吸纳60位（甚至更多）游客入住，从每年11月一直持续至次年三月。

At the heart of Teruel’s truffle zone lie a pair of pretty, historic villages with confusingly similar names: Mora de Rubielos and Rubielos de Mora. La Trufa Negra is in the former (known locally as Mora) and is surprisingly sleek, designed in a modernist style that contrasts sharply with the rustichotelitos of the area. It is the first venture in hotel-keeping from the Pérez family, whose nearby estate La Masía El Olmo is a major truffle producer.
就在特鲁埃尔松露种植中心区域，坐落着两座名字类似、却让人晕菜的迷人古村庄：莫拉-德鲁别洛斯与德鲁别洛斯-莫拉(Rubielos de Mora)。La Trufa Negra酒店坐落于前者（当地人称为莫拉村），特别时尚（着实出人意料），由现代主义建筑风格设计而成，它与本地区的诸多“乡村酒店”(rustichotelitos)建筑风格大相径庭。这是佩雷斯家族涉足酒店行业的第一家，附近的La Masía El Olmo庄园则是主要的松露产地。
The Pérezes have long been one of Mora’s more prominent families. Emilio, the patriarch, was a farmer before he bought the village’s first lorry in 1963 and founded a transport company which became the cornerstone of his business empire. The new generation are his granddaughter Alexandra, 26, who runs the hotel, and her sister Alba, 20, a student of agronomy who, together with their father Miguel, looks after La Masía El Olmo.
佩雷斯家族一直是莫拉村的名门望族。家族企业创办人埃米利奥(Emilio)曾是农民，1963年购买了该村首辆大卡车后，建立了运输公司，从此奠定了其庞大商业帝国的基础。家族年轻一代的代表是埃米利奥26岁的孙女亚历山德拉(Alexandra)，她负责家族酒店经营；亚历山德拉20岁的妹妹阿尔芭(Alba)是农学专业学生，与她们的老爸米格尔(Miguel)一起掌管La Masía El Olmo庄园。
La Trufa Negra is a shrine to its namesake. Black truffles from the family farm are a mainstay of Melanosporum, the hotel restaurant where chef Victor Pérez (no relation) showcases them in dishes ranging from the luxuriously plain (olive oil-macerated carpaccio of truffle on toast) to the plainly luxurious (salad of truffle shavings and duck ham with peach and curry vinaigrette). Truffles are sold in the lobby, fresh, steeped in brandy, and infused in cheese and longaniza sausage. They also feature on the menu at the hotel spa, which claims its truffle-derived cocktail of vitamins, minerals and polyphenols works as a “natural Botox” for the skin.
与松露同名的La Trufa Negra酒店是美食饕餮们的圣地。家族农庄出产的各种黑松露是酒店餐厅Melanosporum的“镇馆美食”，其大厨维克多•佩雷斯（Victor Pérez，与家族并无亲戚关系）向我们展示了各色松露：从既好看简约的橄榄油煎炸松露薄片吐司到赏心悦目型（用桃汁与咖啡汁调出的松露屑火腿鸭沙拉）。松露就在酒店大厅里销售——新鲜松露浸泡在白兰地中，其它则做在干酪与灌在longaniza香肠中。它们还是酒店spa中心的特色项目，该中心自诩从松露中提取的混合物富含维生素、矿物质以及多酚类物质，对皮肤的疗效就如同“天然肉毒杆菌”(Botox)般神奇。
On a rapidly darkening Friday afternoon I make the short drive to Mora’s twin village, Rubielos de Mora. I have been enchanted by Mora’s 14th-century church of Santa Maria la Mayor, a glorious Gothic barn, and the village’s mighty castle in dust-coloured stone, which would not look out of place in Game of Thrones. But Rubielos de Mora is, if anything, even more impressive architecturally. The grandeur of its 27 historic mansions gives an idea of the village’s once-enormous wealth, derived from the wool trade, which reached its peak in the 16th century.
星期五的傍晚时分，我抽出一点时间，开车短暂造访了莫拉村的姐妹村——德鲁别洛斯-莫拉村。本人曾流连忘返于莫拉村建于14世纪的Santa Maria la Mayor教堂、一座恢宏的哥特式风格的谷仓以及灰褐色石头盖成的雄伟城堡，它与《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)中的城堡相比也丝毫不逊色。但德鲁别洛斯-莫拉村的建筑更显气度不凡。27座气派的老宅似乎在昭示这里曾经的极度富奢，其财富来自于羊毛贸易，16世纪时达到顶峰。
The truffle, Gúdar Javalambre’s newest hope for potential riches, is less in evidence here, though if the menus in the tapas bars and restaurants are anything to go by, it is gradually finding a place in the cuisine. That evening at Los Leones, a fine little palace-hotel, owner Manuel Górriz serves me an aged sirloin steak adorned with thin truffle slices bestowing a pungent aroma on the simply cooked meat.
松露最有希望成为古达尔-哈瓦尔布雷县未来财富的来源，但它在本地却并不引人注目，尽管如果按照小餐馆与高档餐厅的菜单来衡量，它已逐渐成为本地餐饮的必备美食。当晚，精致小巧的Los Leones豪华酒店老板曼努埃尔•格里斯(Manuel Górriz)用沙朗熟成牛排——在煮熟的牛肉上，就用散发着浓郁香气的松露小薄片点缀——热情款待了我们。
Back in Mora, Saturday dawns bright and bracing. I take my place along with eight other “truffle tourists” — they include a chef, a cherry farmer and a food-loving family from Bilbao — in the hotel screening room where Alexandra Pérez offers us an introductory course in thetrufa as species, crop and ingredient. Thanks to her explanations I learn the taxonomy of the truffle family and to easily distinguish Tuber magnatum, the renowned wild truffle of Piedmont, from Tuber aestivum, the milder-flavoured summer truffle, andTuber melanosporum, the black winter truffle traditionally associated with Périgord in southwest France but now cultivated here on such a scale that local producers claim Teruel accounts for a fifth of the global crop.
第二天（星期六）一大早回到莫拉村，阳光明媚、沁人心脾。我与另外八位“松露游客”（包括一位厨师、一位樱桃园主以及来自毕尔巴鄂(Bilbao)的一位美食饕餮）一起就座于酒店的放映室，由亚历山德拉•佩雷斯(Alexandra Pérez)向我们普及了松露作为物种、作物以及调味品的入门知识。正是得益于她的介绍，我才得以区分清各种松露，知道如何一下子辨别白松露菌（Tuber magnatum，产于皮埃蒙特(Piedmont)的名贵野生松露）、黑松露（Tuber aestivum，味道温和的夏块菌）以及黑孢松露(Tuber melanosporum)。黑孢松露这种黑色冬块菌原先产于法国东南部的佩利哥(Périgord)，如今在特鲁埃尔大规模种植，当地种植者自豪地宣称此地出产的松露占据了全球五分之一的产量。