ALQUEZAR

The beauty of this village for us was overwhelming and quite rightly deserves a whole post of it's own. This is the place we truly felt at home during our tour of Northern Spain.
Driving towards Alquezar, which is in the foothills of the Pyranees, and rounding one of Spain's notorious hair-pin bends, we sight this unbelievable hotch-potch of Spanish houses looking as though they are struggling to latch on to the side of the craggy mountainside. From its midst a majestic church/castle erupts baking under the azure, blue sky and hot Spanish sun. Everywhere is arid dry and tussocky........in this moment our hearts are captured. Alquezar is extremely isolated but is surrounded by amazing mountains and deep valleys where canyoning is very popular with young people.
We have headed South to find this place Gary has picked out from our ACSI book (he is such a whiz at finding these special places) travelling through Pont, where we buy bread and lettuce from the town square market (such are the necessities of life), across vast, arid, dusty plains, through countless haphazard vineyards (typically Spanish) past Termens and Llada and on to Benifar. We are now very rural and the vista is just incredible - small patches of agricultural land scratched into the dry earth supporting goodness only knows what and then a scrubby, small paddock supporting half a dozen cows clanging their bells as they forrage for a morsel of food and suddenly..........we are engulfed by ancient Olive trees!!!!!!! Driving through these we arrive at Huertade Vero and then Camping Alquezar - in the absolute middle of nowhere.
The campsite is great though and not at all busy so we are, once again, surprised when a couple from the Netherlands park beside us, with their door facing ours, and proceed to have several, quite loud disagreements. The weather is hot and sunny so windows and doors are wide open for all to hear. They were so close we could hear them chewing their cornflakes the next morning.
Escaping this trauma the next morning we walked into Alquezar. This, of course, was mainly uphill but along the roadside wild fennel and rosemary had just been cut so the aromatic smells were calming and encouraging and the views over the Sierra Park and Canyons of Guara breathtaking. .
Alquezar is a mediaeval village in Huesca, Aragon, Spain perched on top of a mountainous rock carved out by the river Vero which ultimately forms the deep canyons surrounding the town and in this area in general. The Moorish town itself is something else and eyes are wide open as you enter through the Gothic gate and step back in time. We spent a whole day wandering through discovering hidden gems like; an extremely small place for the townspeople to use for worship instead of having to climb the hill each time to the church (apparantly this used to be a cobblers shop); a cute artisan bakery that sold bread and cakes but also pulled beer; wherever we looked ancient history jumped out at us in the architecture, the cobbled streets and the old people. Alquezar itself was very steep in places but there was just so much to see. Walking to the very top to the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria, originally a castle built in the 8th Century which was consecrated by the Christians in 1099, the cobbles were so well worn they were shiny and slippery. Just imagine the thousands of people who have climbed to the church before us to repent their sins for this to have happened. The church was closed when we finally got to the top but it wasn't long before a Quasimodo sort of guy came and opened the door with an extremely large, rusty key. Have to say my imagination ran riot here too. The trip to the church was worth it all in the end though for its history, its frescos, its organ, its views, its battlements, its grandeur, its creaky wooden stairs and its bells whose mechanism was weighted by a very basic, huge rock??!!
Alquezar is a Unesco World Heritage site and as I say we loved it. It is a place to walk and a place to wander. Eagles breed on the mountain top and it is a joy to watch them soar in the sky looking for their prey.
Walking back down to the campsite we stop for a bite to eat at the Camp restaurant which is a set menu at a vastly different price to those in Alquesar. We possibly eat too much and undoubtedly drink too much but it seems a fitting end to a fabulous day. We must leave tomorrow and head back into France to meet with Calum and Jane but this place has a certain attraction and everyone should put it on their bucket list. We certainly wouldn't hesitate to return.