Albarracin the Red

We have been staying in the small village of Albarracin, a walled town, with castle. This morning, we explored the town before the tourists arrived (we are travellers, not tourists).  But we needn’t have worried, as we have discovered that we are still well before the main season and the place is pretty quiet. Which is an understatement – there are several enormous car parks just out of town with nothing in them, and about 12 tourists in the whole town at any one time!

This is a seriously picturesque village of hanging houses, some several stories high, with wooden balconies and not a straight line or square angle anywhere. Unfortunately, the Catedral is undergoing restoration so is only open as part of a guided tour in Spanish, as is the Castillo at the very top of the village. Not to worry. We can freely explore the walls above the town, with equally good views down over the village and into the gorge.

 

From our vantage point high over the village, we can see various walking trails and we decide to do a walk with a picnic lunch included. Off to buy some jamon, quesos (we now know the word for cheese), and bread. We even include a bottle of red wine – it is funny how we can always seem to work out the alcoholic beverages. There is a mutter of thunder just as we are finishing our picnic, over within 10 minutes,  and we end a lovely walk around the base of the cliffs at Albarracin by taking a shortcut back to our hotel via the road tunnel under the town. Later in the afternoon, we walk up to a hermitage above the town for more views of this picturesque site.

Our language skills are being extended all the time. I can now order decaf coffee, with milk, can buy cheese as well as jamon, and tonight, we order tapas at a busy little cafe – salad, anchovies and – yes – jamon and quesos, con pan. Oh, to be so multi-lingual. Mind you, we did also ask for the English version of the menu! BTW, we really like the Spanish version of ham – not as salty as proscuitto, and a bit more gamey.

Pip’s advice is to forget about the language, and just get out and enjoy the night life and sangria. We would – except we can’t find any nightlife – we are in such a small place before the main tourist season, and there is no night life to speak of!  As for sangria – it’s about 5 degrees after sunset!  Gluhwein anyone?