Albarraćin

From Teruel we had to take a bus to the small town of Albarracín about an hour away, although still in the province of Teruel. The bus driver dropped us on the road, here, and informed us this was our stop. He was going through the tunnel, we were going UP!

Of course we had no idea where our hotel was and it took a visit to a local restaurant to get directions. Sadly we misunderstood them and walked about 2 km to reach our hotel, at the far side of the village, instead of the 1 km it should have been. 

Albarracín is, as most very old towns on top of a hill, but in this case it's also like a peninsula, because the river wraps around its base on three sides. It makes for a nearly impenetrable fortress, and a challenge to wander around. But it is one of the most beautiful and most dramatically sited villages in all of Spain. 

This picture, which we saw in the local museum, does a better job than any of mine to show how the village is laid out. 

Because of the lay of the land, the streets are very narrow. We are glad that our luggage is carried on our backs instead of being pulled along behind us as so many tourists do these days. 

Once we reached our hotel we were more than pleased. This was our view in one direction. Note the white water in the river below. 

And this our view in the other. The small building near the top right corner of the picture is the Hermitage of Carmel. It's almost invisible, blending very well into the background. 

There was a suggestion that there might be wildlife in the area. Like this deer.  I have a feeling there are more deer mounted in walls than roaming the hillsides.

The village is a piece of history. The buildings here were built in the Middle Ages. They have been maintained and there is now a foundation that ensures the village keeps its character. 

There are beautiful examples of forged iron work. Many of the windows are protected by iron grilles such as this. 

And there are lots of beautiful door knockers and door pulls. 

Almost everywhere the buildings are piled one above the other. We had a tour of the church which included a tour of the village and our tour guide described the houses as been splayed one above the other the way a lady's fan is stacked. 

The buildings lean toward each other, making as much of the available space as possible. 

And because it's on a hill, there are stepped streets too.

Our hotel was outside the original wall through one of the three gates to the city, el Porto del Molino (the mill gate). 

Above us, at the highest point on one edge of town, was a Castillo. It was actually built by the Muslims who were here in the 10th and 11th centuries. Yes, these walls and the castle are really 1000 years old. 

Here's Geordie on our very lovely balcony. With that view! That's the village church over there. 

This vine snaked it's way from one roof to another. 

More door knockers and grille work. 

This amazing house is now owned by the foundation and is protected from development, as are many other houses in the village. The tiny windows are to ensure that heat doesn't escape. The village is at 1400 meters, and gets cold in winter, and at night during this time of year. 

Note the grille work on the buildings, the leaning inward houses, the no-entry sign for vehicles. We did see vehicles in these streets by the way. 

But I'm not sure they would make it around this corner. 

This beautiful object is a manhole cover - with a Virgin y Niño. 

Of course in the Middle Ages, these buildings were lived in by important people. This crest shows the arms of the ducal family. 

And this blue house was owned by the richest family in Albarracín, although it too is now the property of the foundation. 

Away from history for a moment - this was our breakfast bread, a rustic loaf made in a bakery in the village. It was very tasty. 

Oh, look, more beautiful pieces of hand-forged ironwork. 

There was a preponderance of snakes. If there's significance, we didn't learn what it was. 

This street is Calle de Santiago, the street of our favourite saint. Sadly his church, which was up these steps, was not open so we couldn't see inside. 

More panoramic views. 

This plate was in the museum, it's used as a symbol for the town in advertising. 

Outside the museum was this small chapel. Originally it was the Synagogue for the Jewish population who lived here before the expulsion or forced Christianizing of the Jewish population in Spain. 

The poor boy is exhausted by the climbing of hills, and descending of steps. 

The church steeple. 

Inside the church museum is this treasured crystal fish - indeed a unique piece, which I think may have been used in some part of the church service since its mouth is big enough to insert coins (perhaps?)

This is our friend Santiago, quite likely from the Santiago church. 

There were a series of six huge tapestries hanging in the museum. They were all on the same theme of of a battle by Gideon described in the bible. 

Incredible detail - including this winged horse in a corner and the bat below. 

And an ostrich. 

This polychrome wooden statue is of Saint Anne, holding a rather stiff Virgin Mary as a child. 

But also this lovely Joseph with the young Jesus, which is much more lively. 

I must interject a different topic here. One thing we noticed was that, although there are supposedly about 1000 inhabitants in the town, we saw very few of them and not one young child. There were school groups on tour in the village, but, even though we have seen children in strollers all over this part of Spain as if there were a population boom, here in Albarracín those young enough to have children don't appear to live here. It is more a ghost town than a living, thriving village. It's obvious that it depends on tourism for its very existence. 

A chapel ceiling in the church. When you are in a church or eclesiastical building in Europe, always look up!

This is a magnificent altar piece. 

And just as in Teruel, another altar was carved by the same incredible artist who created each of the many detailed panels with one piece of wood each. The older men even have wrinkles carved into their faces, and that curly hair, . It was also pointed out that you can tell that the piece is all one by looking at the cracks that run from the base up through the foot of the man in the cart and through the folds of the clothing. This is an amazing feat of wood carving done with the simplest of tools during the Renaissance. 

There were old murals on the walls of the church which had actually been plastered over and only found as pieces of the stucco fell off. The little gouges were made by the workmen who covered the murals to ensure the stucco adhered. 

Look up. 

Another mural uncovered in a chapel. I thought this looked relatively contemporary. Not so - it's from the 16th century!

Our tour of the church was led in Spanish by a delightful guide, but we really had to strain to understand even a small portion of the information she shared. But I later did a tour of the Castillo which Geordie skipped. I was the only person in the tour so the guide was very patient, spoke as simply as she could, and as slowly, so I got much more of the information.

This lovely and tiny sedum was growing on the castle wall. 

My tour guide leading me along the narrow walkways. A guide was required by the way. The Castillo, as I mentioned, was built by the Muslims during their occupation of Spain. There were ruins of houses and a hammam (a bath house) in the castle grounds. 

Note, wall along the hillside was also built by the Muslims, not the Christians who occupied the site after the Muslims were defeated and sent packing. 

My guide took this picture which is why it's so much better than a selfie. While I was having my relatively stress free tour of the Castillo, Geordie, who had refused to come with me, decided to explore the wall instead, and phoned me, just a few minutes before this picture was taken, to inform me that he was on top of the hill there in the distance. It's a much harder climb up to that spot.

We did eat. This is Geordie's meal one evening with stewed beef. 

And mine of jabali. 

Which is this creature here - a wild boar from the region. 

To get back to Teruel and the train on to our next stop, we had to retrace some of our steps back to the same bus stop where we were dropped off. This is our last view of the town. 

And on to Tarragona.