Albarracin: Moor for your money
Far from the country's clogged beach resorts, Nick West discovers Albarracin, a magical patch of Spain that's still largely untouched by tourism
Published: 14 January 2006 by Independent.co.uk
I used to believe that the Italians made the best coffee. Yet sipping the most delicious cafe con leche, while looking out over the spectacular medieval Spanish village of Albarracin, it occurred to me that I had got it wrong. Spanish coffee is consistently and qualitatively as good as its Italian counterpart, while the ancient, but neglected, Spanish province of Teruel puts a good deal of historical Italy in the shade.
Tourists crawl all over the Iberian peninsula like ants at a picnic, but hardly any venture into this quietly beautiful and fascinating area of Spain. If they did, they'd find that there are no shops selling medieval jesters hats or plastic swords, or restaurants with laminated pictures of tourist menus. There's no hinterland of modern buildings or McDonald's - just winding, cobbled streets, meandering through an ancient settlement perched on the cliffs of a precipitous gorge. Albarracin is a Spanish Aragonese pueblo that has changed little since the Middle Ages.
The surrounding countryside boasts crystal-clear rivers stocked with trout, fragrant pine forests, ochre-red rock formations, soaring golden eagles and 6,000-year-old Paleolithic cave drawings. So how has it managed to remain so unspoilt? The preservation of Albarracin is thanks mainly to the common sense and munificence of the Moors from North Africa. Developing the site from a Roman fort, the Moors created a highly successful community that became pivotal in medieval Islamic Spain. Once a separate kingdom in its own right, prosperous and essentially peaceful, the city drifted into obscurity only in modern times.
Since those heady days of Muslim rule, obscurity has defined Teruel. It is the southernmost province of Aragon - an ancient kingdom that is now an administrative region of Spain. The local council famously launched a marketing campaign in order to highlight the neglect they felt at the hands of their own central government. It largely failed; with no substantial infrastructure beyond the magnificence of the Mudejar architecture, and precious few tourists, life in Teruel was, and still is, predicated on selling cured hams and black truffles (€650/£430 a kilo) to their fellow countrymen.
Some people from nearby cities do visit the region. For decades the Valencianos have skied in winter at the Javalambre and Valdelinares resorts in the mountains around Teruel. In summer, the chic Zaragozans walk, cycle and fish in the hills around Albarracin. But, apart from this, the area is remarkably untouched by tourism. The British have been buying swathes of Spain, and so Costa prices now rival those at home. Not so in Teruel. €1,500 (£1,070) still gets you a shell of a village house. Like the look of that old corral house with the lovely wooden gates, huge oak doors and a paddock? A snip at €10,000 (£7,000).
But let me put you off a little. The sea is well over an hour away and, even though a new motorway is going to link Teruel with Valencia and Zaragoza, who wants to be more than a flip-flop's throw from a swimming pool? And then there's the temperature. While it's great in summer, Albarracin is 1,180 metres above sea level. The drive from Valencia is all uphill. Consequently, winters are cold. Temperatures have reputedly plunged as low as -20C. A bloody battle was fought over Teruel in the Civil War and the soldiers froze in their trenches.
So no orange groves, then. But places like Albarracin and Teruel are getting scarcer. In the least populated area of Spain, where deaths exceed births, and where history and nature commune perfectly, it's possible to experience a time when man lived in harmony with his environment rather than defiled it. Deer, wild boar, hares, rabbits, quail, partridge and golden eagles live relatively unhampered in the Sierras de Albarracin. Even the red stones of Albarracin fuse perfectly with the ochre loam of the fields and hard red rocks of the mountains. The river Guadalaviar flows with ageless resolve in a crystal clear course round the village.
Albarracin has been proposed by Unesco as a world heritage site. The Mudejar architecture of the capital, Teruel, is something to behold. Mudejar is the term given to the Muslims who stayed behind to live in the Christian communities and who were commissioned to produce the series of huge towers that ring the city. The tiny streets in its historical old quarter lead in and out of courtyards and plazas. Unesco has recorded 150 sites for preservation in the city of Teruel and the province of Aragon.
While wanting to explore every inch of Albarracin, from its colossal walls to its grandiose houses with their ornate and arcane crests and door knockers, I ventured out into the Sierra to see the surrounding pueblos. Following the gorge out of town, pine forests clung to red rock escarpments, leading down to grassy meadows watered by both fast-running streams and the medieval irrigation channels, which were constructed by the Moors. I stumbled across an old watermill and a frozen waterfall that threw spikes of ice into a frosty pool.
Lunch at the country restaurant in Frias de Albarracin, two villages over, was a heady mix of chickpea soup, mixed salad, gammon steak, a speciality local dessert, red wine, water and the usual lip-smacking coffee - all for €10 (£7). As I sat and looked out over the meadows, rising up to the red rocky outcrops, I could feel the quiet tranquillity and unhurried pace of this ancient part of Spain oozing from every rock, stream and forest. That night, standing on my balcony in the cold looking out over the silent town and the cavernous gorge, with only the sound of the river rushing by below, it was easy to find myself back in the Middle Ages. And under a canopy of stars I mused contentedly on tomorrow's coffee in the Plaza Mayor.
TRAVELLER'S GUIDE
GETTING THERE
Valencia is served by easyJet (0905 821 0905; www.easyJet.com) from Bristol, Gatwick and Stansted, Ryanair (0906 270 5656; www.ryanair.com) from Stansted and GB Airways (0870 850 9850; www.gbairways.com) from Gatwick.
GETTING AROUND
AutoEurope (0800 358 1229; www.auto-europe.co.uk) offers six days' rental of a Ford Fiesta or similar from £65.
STAYING THERE
Hostal Los Palacios, Calle Los Palacios 21, Albarracin (00 34 978 70 03 27; www.montepalacios.com). Doubles start at €33 (£24), room only.
Hotel La Casa del Tio Americano, Calle Los Palacios 9, Albarracin (00 34 978 71 01 25; www.lacasadeltioamericano.com). Doubles start at €95 (£68), including breakfast.
Hotel Posada del Adarve, Calle Portal de Molina 23, Albarracin (00 34 978 70 03 04; www.posada-adarve.com). Doubles start at €55 (£39), room only.
SKIING THERE
Javalambre and Valdelinares ski resorts (00 34 902 334 333; www.nievedeteruel.com).
BUYING THERE
Mundo Rural Teruel (00 34 978 608 878).
FURTHER INFORMATION
Albarracin (www.albarracin.org).
Teruel Tourism (00 34 978 602279; www.staragon.com).
Spanish Tourist Office (08459 400180; www.tourspain.co.uk).
