Spain Trip 6: Teruel, Aragon

Tuesday 19th December 2023

Heading further south, we passed through some arid areas with dried-up river beds, but despite this, there was some green. 

The temperature had been -2 degrees overnight and the atmosphere very still. As we looked down over the valley, we saw how the smoke from a fire, lingered across the landscape.

Our Tuesday evening stopover was in Teruel, the capital city of Teruel Province.  Our park-up for the night was on a car park outside the local police station. Probably one of the most secure spots in the town. It was however, a 30 minute walk to the old part of the town centre and our route firstly took us through some residential areas…

…and past the bullfighting ring:

…then across a very high bridge, the Viaducto de Fernando Hué.

Situated in the high-altitude and mountainous, Aragon region of Spain, Teruel shares UNESCO world heritage status for some of its classic Mudéjar architecture, which is an very ornate style combining Islamic and Gothic elements, making use of brickwork in many finely laid courses.

The cathedral is a fine example of this type of architecture. It dates from the 12th century. The following images show details of the dome and tower.

The inside of the cathedral was also very ornate:

There are also some side chapels which are very ornate. The ceiling of the following one is amazing:

The town sits 915 metres above sea level and is renowned for its extremes of climate. It also has a low population, with under 36,000 permanent residents. In addition to the cathedral, we also visited one of the two towers, The Torre de El Salvador which dates to the 14th century:

We climbed to the top of the tower (well the belfry, anyway):

On our wanderings, we also came upon the other tower, The Torre de San Martín;

Tomorrow, we have a longer journey, to Calp on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, where we will be spending the next two weeks.