Tag: Aragon

We were still heading west towards Galicia and our next overnight would be in Haro in the La Rioja Region. On the way, however, we made an impromptu stop at Belchite which is a 40 mile drive south east of Zaragoza in Aragon.

A small town of just under 4,000 people in 1937, it was the scene of a bloody 13 day battle during the Spanish Civil War between Franco’s Fascist Nationalists and the Communist Republicans. The Republicans won the battle for the town but it was a pyrrhic victory with between 5,000 and 6,000 people being killed and; at the end of the war, which was won by the Nationalists, Franco demanded the town be left in ruins as a living monument to the destruction he said was caused by the Republicans invading the town. He further insisted that Republican prisoners build a new town (Belchite Nuevo) down the road.

The ruins of Belchite Viejo (and those of nearby Roden) have been left almost exactly as they were after the battle although, more recently, the old town was fenced off (because of vandalism and increasing safety concerns) and may now only be accessed by prior appointment and with a tour guide. That is not so easy when the decision to visit is made so spontaneously and when there is only a short window of opportunity in which to visit. Having said that, I found a hole in the fence and had a good scout around before bumping into an official tour party and having to scarper.

The following three photos were taken just outside the official entrance into Belchite’s ruins on Plaza Goya. Nothing was open and there was no official about to advise as to how I could gain entrance. A coach driver parked up near where I left the Van referred me to the town hall but it was closed.

Having found a way into Belchite Viejo, my first thoughts were that it’s an unsettling place, particularly in the area of the 15th century Church of San Marin (San Martin de Tours). It’s so full of tragedy. The church served as a shelter during the height of the battle and a number of people who sought protection there were buried under tons of rubble after the church dome collapsed during a Republican bombing raid. I read that some remain there to this day.

If little remains of the Church of Saint Martin, there’s even less remaining of the neighbouring 18th century Convent of San Rafael where Dominican nuns used to care for orphaned girls but, in truth, the same can be said of the whole town. It was devastated and the ruins are as shocking a reminder of the misery of war as I have seen. Even now, more than 85 years later the horrors of what took place in Belchite continue to surface. Euronews reported as recently as October 2021 that the Spanish authorities had unearthed the bodies of dozens of men and women who were believed to have been executed by Nationalists in Belchite at the start of the war. The hands and feet of many were bound and some showed signs of having been tortured.

At the centre of the town in the Old Square (Plaza Vieja) is a 14th or 15th century clock tower built in the Mujedar style. It is all that remains of the Church of Saint John. Alongside it is an imposing “Iron Cross of the Fallen”. The cross was raised by the same Republican prisoners who built Belchite Nuevo and it sits on the same spot where so many of the fallen from both sides were subsequently cremated.

And the new town? There’s little of interest in Belchite Nuevo except perhaps for it’s current population of 1,500. Some sobering street art perhaps?

We stopped in Mequinenza to make use of the town’s municipal campsite while driving across Aragon towards Asturias and Galicia.

Mequinenza is a small town of just over 2,000 people on the eastern edge of a reservoir known as the Mar de Aragon (the Aragon Sea). It’s a relatively new town built to the north of Mequinenza Castle after the River Ebro was dammed in the 1960’s. The original town, which dated back to at least the time of Julius Caesar, lay south of the castle. Most of it was destroyed when the reservoir was created although the Maria Quintana Ferragut School now serves as the area’s history museum.

The area has a rich history not least because of it’s small castle which was built by Berbers late in the 12th century but changed hands many times during the Christian-Muslim wars and again during the course of various internal Spanish wars in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1810, during the Spanish War of Independence (the Napoleonic Wars to you or me) the castle was attacked yet again; by troops under the French General Suchet. An unsuccessful but spirited defence by just 1,200 men against Suchet’s 14,000 led to Mequinenza being listed among the victories inscribed on Napoleon’s Arc de Triomph in Paris. The castle figured briefly during the Carlist Wars but subsequently fell into disuse, except as a Republican prison during the Spanish Civil War, and it is now owned by the Spanish utility company ENDESA (which Company restored the castle to it’s current state although it doesn’t much resemble the original castle). It’s possible to visit the castle but only by prior appointment with ENDESA.

Mequinenza was at it’s most prosperous during the early 20th century, when coal mining was the area’s principal industry, and it’s population almost doubled to 4,200 (mostly miners). Of course, that short period of economic success ended during the 1960’s, as Franco steered Spain towards hydro-electric power and damned the River Ebro. The new town is now focused towards sport (rowing and kayaking) and leisure (fishing) with fishing being the town’s principal attraction.

It is believed the reservoir contains more than 50 million fish, including Black Bass, Royal Carp and, most impressive, the giant Wels Catfish, which regularly grow to more than 2 metres in length and weigh over 100 kilos. The current record in this area is a catfish measuring 2.61 metres and weighing 115kg. I stopped for a beer in one of the local bars and noticed some photo montages on the wall. Take a look at those…

We were staying in the camping site for just the one night (at 13 euros per night) but, we were fortunate to arrive during a local celebration. We didn’t need a second invitation…

Everyone I know who has been to the Region of Aragon (that’s not many I admit but, even so) have gone there to enjoy the mountains and the rivers in the north. So far as I am aware not one has visited Huesca City. It was the same with Vanya and I until this particular tour and we’re both so pleased that we took the time to visit the place. It was a short visit but it was most enjoyable and we will return.

Huesca is the most northerly of Aragon’s three Provinces (the other two being Zaragoza and Teruel) and Huesca City is Huesca’s capital. With a population of approximately 52,000 it is a small city yet, it has so much history. It started as a Celtiberian village long before the Romans colonised the area and then; after the fall of the Roman Empire, was taken and ruled first by the Visigoths and then by the Moors until the time of the reconquest by the Aragonese kings. What remains of those latter days is to be found in the small yet captivating medieval quarter of the city but there are other equally appealing areas of the city even if they do provide for a considerably more modern looking metropolis than is normally to be found in the north of Spain.

The medieval quarter comprises mainly religious buildings (the Cathedral and Episcopal Palace, the Abbey/Monastery and Cloisters of San Pedro el Viejo and the Basilica de San Lorenzo) but there are plenty of other interesting places to see outside of the old town (my favourites are the late 19th/early 20th century monuments and art-deco buildings) but, if they warrant a visit, the area’s gastronomy justifies a full expedition (more about that later).

We were parked up in Camping San Jorge on the western edge of the city and the 15 minute walk to the medieval quarter took us through Parque Miguel Servet (a 100 year old green zone with ponds, a wide variety of trees, bandstand, origami statue and, not forgetting, Snow White’s House) and then on across the Plaza de Navarra (with it’s 1885 Fountain of the Muses and impressive Circle Oscense or Casino Building) and into the old town via the Calle de Galicia.

The biggest surprise in the park is what is known as Snow White’s House. It is actually a reproduction of the Seven Dwarves’ Cottage in the Walt Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (sic). I read that it contains a library but we didn’t look.

Right on the edge of the Medieval Quarter is Plaza Luis López Allúe. Once known as the Market Square and now regarded as the Plaza Mayor, this square is home to the city’s tourist office. The tourist office was open but otherwise, the Plaza was empty but that’s to be expected in Spain during the afternoon. It would be different when I returned in the evening, when it is cooler, with Vanya and our dogs.

The tourist office recommended my visiting the Medieval Quarter to view some of it’s many impressive ecclesiastical buildings. I started with the Cathedral and the adjoining Episcopal Palace (which has been used as a museum of sacred art and artifacts since 1945) and then moved on to the Monastery and Cloisters of San Pedro el Viejo (the ticket I bought allowed access to both) before finishing the afternoon at the Basilica of San Lorenzo while on my way back to collect Vanya and the dogs from our Van.

Ths 13th century Holy Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord, also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria, was built in the Gothic style on the site of what was first a Roman temple, then a Visigoth church and finally a Moorish mosque. In fact, the mosque was used as a catholic church for almost 200 years after the Moors were evicted from Aragon and surrounding areas.

The cathedral was finished in 1515 and has since been carefully restored to something approaching it’s original glory except that a particularly imposing spire which crowned the bell tower was accidently destroyed during the Spanish Civil War and has not been replaced. The tower is now left with a flat roof. I was in the cathedral for a fair time. The museum and contents are captivating, as are most of the cathedral’s 14 chapels but, it is the open bell tower which I found most interesting. The views over Huesca City and towards the Pyrenees are fascinating.

Directly opposite the Episcopal Palace on the Plaza de Catedral is another impressive building, an old 16th century renaissance palace with two towers. This building is currently shared by Huesca Ayuntamiento (the Huesca City Council) and the Colegio de Santiago which once belonged to the old University of Huesca. The building is open to tourists every weekday morning but it was closed by the time I had finished in the cathedral and I therefore made my way to the what must be Huesca’s oldest building, the Monastery San Pedro el Viejo.

Just yards from the tourist office and easily identified by it’s hexagonal tower, the Abbey of San Pedro el Viejo is one of the oldest ecclesiastical buildings in Spain. It is believed to have existed in the time of the Visigoths although much of the present building and certainly all of the cloisters formed part of a 12th century Benedictine Monastery. The cloisters are as pretty as they come and the monastery’s former chapter room is now a chapel containing the tombs of King Alfonso ‘the Battler’ and his younger brother (and successor) King Ramiro II ‘the Monk’.

Alfonso, King of Aragon & Navarra between 1104 and 1134, was obsessed with war. He fought alongside his elder brother, Peter I, at the Battle of Alcoraz (when Aragon was retaken from the Moors) and accompanied El Cid, during his expeditions in Valencia but; it was later, after winning 29 battles against both Christian and Moorish armies that he earned his nickname ‘The Battler’. Alfonso died childless after suffering wounds in yet another battle and his younger brother, Ramiro,was pressed by Aragonese nobility to take the crown. King Ramiro II earned his soubriquet ‘The Monk’ without quite the same fuss (although his time as king was perhaps no less tumultuous). When pressed to become king, he was already a monk. Indeed, he was the abbot of a Benedictine monastery but; he did as was expected of him; he married; he produced an heir (a daughter, Petronilla); he married his daughter off to King Ramon Berenguer IV (who would in due course unite the kingdoms of Aragon and Barcelona or produce an heir who could do the same) and; he returned to a monastery to live out his days. Interesting times.

It was almost time for me to collect Vanya and the dogs. There was just enough time to visit the Basilica of San Lorenzo on my way back to the campsite. This route also gave me the opportunity to find an ATM and somewhere to eat in the evening.

The 17th century Basilica of San Lorenzo was closed by the time I arrived. I can’t therefore tell you much about the place other than that San Lorenzo is known in the UK as Saint Lawrence/Laurence and that he was born in Huesca City and is the Region’s patron Saint. That’s it except that he died a nasty death some time in the 3rd centuy during a purge by the Roman Emperor Valerian.

Some street art caught my eye while I was wandering Huesca City. I immediately recognised the Buster Keaton piece but I had never heard of Ramon Acin. I learned subsequently thathr was an artist, teacher, writer and anarchist who, together with his wife, was amongst the first Republicans to be executed by the Nationalists as the Spanish Civil War began.

Huesca is famous for it’s gastronomy and that evening, after showing Vanya some of the principal sights in the town, we started to look for somewhere suitable to eat and drink.

Typical dishes of the province include Huescan Garlic Soup, Las Migas a la Pastora de Aragon (breadcrumbs with meat & sausage), Chicken Chilindrón (a chicken stew with peppers & tomatoes), Cordero a la Pastora (a lamb casserole) and Ternasco Asado (roasted Aragon lamb) but these are all hearty dishes better suited to winter or for enjoying up in the mountains where it is generally cooler. Fortunately, Huesca City is also famous for it’s tapas and raciones. Indeed, Huesca is home to “Tatau, a modern tapas bar in the centre of the city which currently holds a Michelin Star. We were unable to secure a table at Tatau and settled at a table outside a lively tapas bar just off of the Calle de San Orencio in the San Lorenzo neighbourhood.

The place looked to be completely full as we arrived and with Nala in her “walking wheels” we weren’t sure we would get a table but the staff and various customers all cheerfully collaborated to clear a space for us at the front of the restaurant. The welcome we received was wonderful and the food surpassed all expectations with my favourite dish being a sensational Pulpo a Feira.

We ordered far too much food and each tapas was far bigger than expected (and they weren’t silly prices either) but we stuffed ourselves silly and did the food proud. I reproduce below the three dishes we most enjoyed but there were many more:-

The first was an Iberian Sirloin Steak with baked apple, goat cheese, port wine and a strawberry sauce. The second is something Vanya ordered and thoroughly enjoyed, a Prawn and Squid Risotto. The third was my absolute favourite. All of the seafood was good but the Pulpo a Feira (octopus) was something else.

We had a wonderful time and we look forward to returning to Huesca City.

I like Albarracin. It’s another unique rural village full of character and allure. Vanya didn’t find it so pleasant but that was in part because her hip has been playing up and the village sits atop a near vertical cliff face with a great many slopes and steps (which made it difficult for her to get around) and in part because it sits at 1200 metres above sea level and was quite cold at night (the temperature went down to just 2 degrees centigrade which didn’t please her). Having said that, we would both highly recommend visiting Albarracin.

Perched on a rocky hill high above the Rio Guadalavier in a natural bowl in the mountains of Aragon’s Teruel Province, Albarracin ranks amongst the most beautiful of all the ‘Puebla Mas Bonitas d’Espana’. It was once the capital of a Moorish Kingdom (a Taifa) and is one of the best examples of a ‘Mujedar Town’ anywhere in Spain. Mujedar refers to the group of Muslims who stayed on in Spain after it was reclaimed from the Moors by the Christians. It is also a term for Mudejar art and architecture which is an attractive blend of Spanish and Islamic art.

Albarracin clings to the steep sides of a rocky crag. Above it, safeguarding the southern and western sides of the village, are a series of high castle walls some of which date back to the 10th century. The other two sides of the village, the northern and eastern sides, are protected by a deep ravine formed by the Rio Guadalavier.

Over the centuries, three different fortresses have been built into the castle walls. The one at the top of the hill in this photo is the 12th centurey Torre del Andador, a Muslim Watchtower.

Two views from the Torre del Andador

Today’s Albarracin is actually a heavily restored version of the village which was badly damaged during the 1936 Civil War. When the war ended, the local authorities rebuilt the shattered houses according to centuries old traditions and plastered the walls with a red clay mix to give the place a uniform pink hue. This initiative has clearly paid off as, these days, the village’s principal income is from tourism although; there were few tourists around during our stay.

The Calle de Don Bernardo Zapater leads past the Albarracin Hotel towards the village’s main square and town hall (the Ayuntamiento de Abarracin). From this small attractive cobbled and very uneven square, various narrow lanes radiate off into the village. The whole village is a maze of steep twisting lanes and alleys (many of them cul de sacs) and hanging, crooked houses with wooden balconies some of which appear to tumble into each other.

A legend surrounds one of the more impressive buildings in the town – an old medieval defence tower known as the Torre de Dona Blanca. Dona Blanca was a princess, the youngest sister of a King of Aragon and she was extraordinarily beautiful; so much so that her brother’s wife was jealous of her and had her seized and imprisoned in the tower when she was passing through Albarracin on her way to Castile. Dona Blanca was never seen again but legend has it that she died alone in the tower and the villagers believe that every full moon in the summer, when the bells of the church of Santa María ring at midnight, the figure of a grieving woman (the spirit of Doña Blanca) can be seen wandering through the city.

Torre de Dona Blanca

Towards the top end of the village is a Roman Catholic Cathedral (the Cathedral of El Salvador). It was built in a Romanesque-Mudejar style on the site of an old mosque some time during the 16th century. Next to it is the Dolz del Espejo (the Bishop’s Palace) which was built at much the same time but was altered considerably during the 18th century. Unfortunately, both buildings were closed while we were there. I do like the tiles on the cathedral’s belltowers!

Two views of the belltower of the Cathedral of El Salvador.

This photo captures the bell towers of the Church of Santa Maria (in the foreground) and the Cathedral of El Salvador (in the background)...

… but these two are my favourites – looking down on the town from the Moorish Watchtower.

I was going to write about some of the village’s history, which in parts is very bloodthirsty (especially just after the Caliphate of Cordoba was dissolved and Albarracin was ruled by the 20 year old Abu Mohamed Hudail ben Jalaf ben Lubb – although things got even worse under his son Abdel Melic) but instead, I’ll leave it at that…

And so we made our way to Aragon and the small mountain village of Ainsa, in the north of Huesca Province. Having not seen very much of Aragon during previous tours (just Alquezar, Anso and Valfarta) we thought to spend a few days in the Region before moving on to La Rioja and Castilla y Leon.

Our route took us via the Embalse de Mediano (Mediano Reservoir). The village of Mediano was completely submerged in 1969 when General Franco authorised the creation of a reservoir in the area. The inhabitants had to leave their homes as the flood started (the reservoir was opened without warning) and then watch them disappear below the waters. This story very much reminds me of Riano over in Castilla y Leon which we visited in 2021.

The turqouise of the reservoir water was beautiful. The picture of the Mediano Church (great photo) is not one of mine. This was taken when the reservoir was much depleted by drought. Ordinarily only the belltower of the church is visible.

The village of Ainsa (it is a small town really with just over 2,000 inhabitants) is located at the northern end of the Mediano Reservoir at the confluence of the Rivers Cinca and the Ara. It is close to three National Parks, the Ordesa y Monte Perdido, the Sierra y Canones de Guara and the Posets-Maladeta and in a great hillwalking area. I recently read about an interesting one day hike which takes in Ainsa and two other local villages, Torla Ordesa and Broto, and passes under a fairly large waterfall too.

Our campsite was within easy walking distance of Ainsa and after parking the Van and ensuring Vanya and the dogs were comfortable I went off on an ‘Explore’ making my way over the bridge across the River Cinca and into the more modern commercial part of the town before turning right onto the Avenida Pirenaica and then up the hill towards the old town.

From the bridge there are some fine views north towards the Pyrenees but I was more interested in seeing the medieval part of Ainsa and as I climbed the hill up into old town, it was the local hill, Pena Montenesa, which dominated all.

The first photo of the distant Pyrenees was taken from where the Van was parked. The other photo was from the bridge over the River Cinca. The tallest mountain in the photo (on the extreme left) is Mount Cilindro which at 3,325 metres is one of the tallest in the Pyrenees, just 79 metres lower than Mount Aneto.

Pena Montenesa, 2,295 metres high, is much closer and dominates the village.

It is the beauty of the old town that helped Ainsa gain admittance to Los Pueblos mas Bonitos de Espana – the list of ‘Spain’s Most Beautiful Villages’. The old town’s shape is not unlike that of Dozza, another hilltop ‘village’ we visited in Italy three years ago – it takes the form of a spindle; stretching the whole length of the hill and with two tapering ends. Ainsa’s main gate is at the southern end of the hill and a 12th century castle stands at the northern end. Two narrow cobbled streets of hewn uneven stone houses and shops (Calle Mayor and Calle de Santa Cruz) run inside castle walls along each side of the village from the south gate northwards to a large square (the Plaza Mayor) which in turn leads to the castle entrance.

Left: Heading north along Calle de Santa Cruz towards the castle. Right: Heading south along Calle Mayor towards the south gate.

I entered the old town via the eastern gate. Three of the existing five gates into the town date back to the 11th/12th century and the eastern gate is one of them. The view from this particular gate across to the Pena Montenesa is something else.

Pena Montenesa as seen through the eastern gate to the old town.

Two more gates into the old town. The gate on the left is the south gate . The gate on the right is the entrance to the castle and the photo shows the view south across Plaza Mayor to the 11th century Parish Church of Santa Maria.

Turning right on to Calle de Santa Cruz, after entering the old town via the Eastern Gate, the first significant building to be encountered is the Parish Church of Santa Maria which sits at the southern end of the Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor is large cobbled market square surrounded by medieval arcaded buildings and it was this square that helped put Ainsa on the map after it was declared a National Monument in 1965. Santa Maria is an 11th century church built in the Romanesque style on the site of an old Moorish fortress as part of a christian defensive line to protect the village against the Moors.

At the northern end of the Plaza Mayor is the old castle. During the 17th century and at the expense of well over 100 private dwellings, the castle was extended into the citadel it is now. Of course much of the citadel fell to ruin when the old town was largely vacated during the 19th and 20th centuries but it’s footprint remains and it is possible to walk most of it’s ramparts which afford splendid views both towards the Pyrenees and back over the town.

One of the older buildings on the Plaza Mayor

I returned to the Plaza Mayor later in the day with Vanya and we enjoyed a couple of beers and wines outside one of the cafe bars before taking a last saunter around the Old Town as darkness descended.

The view from the Eastern Gate as we left was every bit as good as earlier in the day.