ALBARRACÍN
The town of Albarracín is located in the province of Teruel, part of the autonomous community (comunidad) of Aragon, Spain.
"Albarracín is a small town in the hills of east-central Spain, above a curve of the Guadalaviar River. Towering medieval walls, the Murallas de Albarracín, dominate the adjacent hillside. At their crest is 10th-century Andador Tower. The ruins of an alcázar, or Moorish castle, stand on a clifftop in the old town. The 16th-century Catedral del Salvador features a bell tower built on the remains of a Romanesque temple."
(Wikipedia)
A two-hour drive from Valencia, this pueblo of just over 1000 inhabitants is consistently ranked as one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. A quick mid-week overnight trip on a rainy mid-December day, confirmed that it certainly has atmosphere. And the following, gloriously sunny day transformed the place into a picture-postcard-perfect mountain village. What it did not have was people.
We were later told that we were incredibly lucky: from Spring until late Autumn the town is deluged with car-fulls and busloads of tourists. In this off-season, all of the shops (apparently tourist or not) were closed. Even the restaurants were closed from Sunday to Thursday from lack of visitors. Our hotel dining room - essentially, the only relaxing place to eat dinner - had two other guests the entire evening other than us three.
All of this is to forewarn you that this time around, the lack of humans is not necessarily by preference. The other slightly off-key note was that this historic town was almost in ruins in the early 1950s, partially the result of the Spanish Civil War and partially the result of time itself. What one sees today is actually the re-construction of a town over the past half-century. Whether or not it is an acceptable lesson in historic conservation, it certainly is an excellent example of historic re-creation. The main problem is that it is almost impossible to decipher old from "new," and the accurate from the guesswork.
More discernible is its wonderful color. As is visible in the photograph above, there is a prevailing pink/salmon hue to the town. One writer believes it is caused by the locally-produced plaster which apparently contains tiny flecks of iron. When it rains, the iron supposedly rusts and gives the town its special hue. Perhaps, all things considered, arriving in the rain was actually fortuitous.
Panoramas
Street Scenes
As can be imagined, parking is at a premium in this hillside town. At one of the few flat sites at the base of the town, an enterprising landscape architect decided that the best way to maximize the spaces was to designate each stall with a built-up curb that would blend-in with the existing walls. A somewhat elaborate design that, hopefully, works better on a crowded summer afternoon than on a lonely winter day when the one car in the parking lot ignored the intent altogether.
Plaza Mayor
"The Plaza is dominated by the Ayuntamiento, the Town Hall, which forms a U. The square has its origins in the 13th century, when it was built on the foundations of the ancient wall, but the more ‘modern’ building of the Town Hall is the result of a total renovation in the 16th century, built in the typical Arogonése style of architecture of the period, with its colonnaded lower level providing shade during the heat of the summer months and the snows of winter. To the side, a mirador looks down over the village and the Riu Guadalaviar."
https://derekworkman.wordpress.com/teruel-province-2/albarracin-hanging-houses-and-vertigineous-views/. As the author notes: This article is an extended version of the information in ‘Disney’s Mountain-Top Village’, one of twenty-two excursions throughout the Valencian Community and Teruel, taken from ‘Inland Trips From the Costa Blanca’
Murallas de Albarracín and the
Andador Tower.
View of the valley "behind" the town on the far side of the walls.
Catedral del Salvador
"The cathedral was built from 1572 to 1600, when the bell-tower was complete. Among the architects were Martín de Castañeda, Quinto Pierres Vedel, and Alonso del Barrio de Ajo. The church has a single nave and the ceiling has Gothic tracery. The nave interior and the Chapel of the Virgen del Pilar was redecorated in stucco and gilding in Baroque style. The main retablo was completed in 1566 by Cosme Damian Bas."
(Wikipedia)
Chapel of the Virgen del Pilar
Diocesan Museum of Albarracín
"The Museum exhibits works belonging to the Diocese of Albarracin-Teruel (created in 1172) both from this city and from the parishes of the region. It has historical and architectural interest, since the rooms that house the materials are the main and domestic dependencies of the former Episcopal Palace of Albarracin, built in the eighteenth century, which allows (one) to enter into the diocesan way of life of the time. The exposed pieces, around 150, cover a chronology that goes from the 14th century to the 20th century...The Museum was inaugurated in 1995 although in 2010 there was an intense remodeling following new museum criteria that give more importance to the chronological and thematic order in which the works are exhibited..."
(Wikipedia)
16th-century rock crystal fish that is a the talisman for the city.
Navarro Arzuriaga House /
The "Blue House"
GEA DE ALBARRACÍN
"The road between Albarracín and Gea de Albarracín (14km east) is paralleled by traces of an ancient Roman tunnel aqueduct. Signs point to the most accessible sections, and there's an interpretation centre in Gea de Albarracín which explains the aqueduct's history and role in more depth."
(Lonely Planet)
One thing for sure: you cannot describe anything if the Center is closed, which it is, from November 1 until the "new season" in April, 2019. The building attracted my attention, not particularly because of the architecture (aside from the aesthetics, you are building on a slope there guys: how about working with the landscape, not against it?), but because it was the only contemporary building for miles.
The below, from the website of the Estudi Ignasi Cristià, the exhibition designers, is the closest I could find as to the origin of the building itself. The studio lists the project as 2010 and provides a few photos of the displays.
"When we imagine an aqueduct, we automatically think of large arches overlapping in the form of a bridge. The Roman aqueduct of Albarracín, however, looks nothing like that. Yet its archaeological value is, if possible, even greater since it runs the length of 26 kilometres. This feat of engineering was achieved through underground ducts, ditches and even galleries dug into the mountains. But how do we explain something that is not easy to see and does not conform to the image we expect to see?"
(https://www.ignasicristia.com/en/projects/26/the-roman-aqueduct-of-albarracin)
Below are some photos from the Center's website of the aqueduct portions themselves.
Although we followed one directional sign into the hills for a few miles on a narrow winding road, we gave up and turned around since we could not determine if it was going to be a short hop or an afternoon excursion. Returning down the hill towards Gea de Albarracin was picturesque. The city now has around 375 people, down from 434 in 2004.
CELLA
Cella, the city at the far end of the aqueduct system, is a town of approximately 2700 people. We wandered around there for the better part of a half-hour, including a visit to the Ayuntamiento (the Town Hall) to see if we could get any better directions. Although there was a sign posted with a map of the attraction, it was not overly specific. The best advice was to go to the edge of town and when we reached the service station to "turn right." It was surprisingly cold in the city and the caverns promised to be even colder, so we agreed to put off this part of the tour until, at least, the Spring.
The "plains of Spain" on the outskirts of the town were made more dramatic by the storm clouds rolling through the region...and, what appeared to be an aircraft boneyard (American English) or aircraft graveyard (British English).
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Copyright © 2015-2019 Benjamin Clavan
