More Old Bits of Southern Aragon.

Travel is no longer just a mindset or a dream; it’s happening again !

Saturday 14th May 2022

We followed a Belgian Duster SUV car towing a Weltbummier caravan out of the Zaragoza campsite; sorry, the names just tickled me.  It was a very easy pleasant drive on an almost empty road south to Teruel.  The landscape was pleasant but with nothing outstanding, until we got just north of our destination.  To our right were about 70 huge aeroplanes parked up around a couple of buildings. It was a little otherworldly, somehow.

Unlike Tudela, Teruel turned out to be rather nice, as we had hoped.  The four Mudéjar towers were impressive and the first thing we did was climb to the top of the Torre del Salvador. A good mosey though lanes and plazas led us to the Torre de San Martin (lucky for the legs…it wasn’t open), then around to the Torre de San Pedro.  This one is attached to the church of San Pedro and we paid for the ‘Mauseleum and Moorish Package’, not really knowing what we were getting with our jubilada tickets.

Sadly there were no English audio guides and the lady tour guide was in full swing for the four Spanish tourists and she spoke very little English, but the tour was still interesting.  The interior of the church was beautiful and we sat there for quite a while taking in all the colourful decoration.  Then we were led out to the cloister and garden before climbing the wobbly spiral staircase to the top of the tower.

We were then surprised to be taken out to the Andito.  This was a sort of hidden balcony level which led us right around the exterior of the church, amongst the turrets, where you can stand right next to the stained-glass windows and look down into the nave of the church, or out into the lanes below. In a funny way, it felt sort of naughty to be up in an area of a church that you never normally get to see.

The Plaza del Torico (little bull) was extremely busy with shoppers and the cafés were full with people shouting over their coffees and beers. After a quick bite and a drink, we continued meandering out to the viaduct and then down to the Paseo del Ōvalo for a lovely lunch overlooking the valley.

The drive out to Albarracin was on an extremely straight road to start with, but then twisted and turned its way uphill through craggy cliffs until we pulled up at 5pm in a shady spot in the appropriately named Camping Albarracin. Just after 6pm thunder started to rumble around us, but only a few drops of rain fell for about a minute and when we woke up the next morning the temperature had dropped down to only 11c !!!  It was refreshing after the last week of heat, but a bit of a shock.

Sunday 15^th May 2022

A pile of washing done, and a full English breakfast was a darn good start to the day. Rodney pulled the bikes down for the ride into Albarracin, only to discover that they were both completely covered in a fine dust from our drive around the Bardenas Reales!  Both needed a good clean before we could go anywhere.

The short (downhill) ride took only 10 minutes then we locked up the bikes below the old pink town now rising above us.  There was no way we were going to cycle up there on the cobblestones, even with one electric bike.  It made sense to walk to the highest point of the castle walls before it got too hot, but it was still a bit of a sweat. The views were magnificent; “Ooh said Rodney.  Mmm I agreed”.  It was lovely up there. 

We wandered back down and looked around every street corner and out to every viewpoint, continually being amazed that this old mediaeval town could still be standing. We dawdled around for about three hours before cycling back (uphill) to Reggie.  Love my E-bike. And I’ll let the photos tell the story today.