Things to do in Jaca Zaragoza and Huesca Spain

Medieval pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela n Galicia recuperated from their arduous trek over the Pyrenees at this ancient garrison town on a hill above the left bank of the Rio Aragon (Aragon RIver). Today, however, this is a principal base for exploring the Aragonese Pyrenees, so most visitors head toward the mountains. Dunng the summer, the Universidad de Zaragoza holds courses for foreign students; dunng the winter, the town bustles with skiers.

In town, Jaca's primary sight is its Romanesque cathedral. Completed in 1076, the cathedral was the first important Romanesque building Spain, and it influenced every artist, architect, and craftsman who entered the country to work on churches during the 11th century. Though partially restored in Gothic and later decorated in Plateresque styles, much of the original Romanesque remains.

Places to visit in Huesca Spain

This marks the start of the rich Ebro Plain. A venerable town, Huesca started out as an Iberian settlement named Osca, then in the first century BC became an independent state founded by the Roman Quintus Sertorius. The town was swept up in ensuing invasions by the Romans and the Moors, until Pedro I of Aragon liberated it from the Moors in 1096 and made it the residence of the Aragonese kings until 1118.

During the Spanish Civil War, it was a stronghold of Francisco Franco's Nationalist rebels, and, as such, suffered considerable damage. Subsequent restoration and recent prosperity have made the town sprawl, but there is a medieval core to explore. The Gothic cathedral, built from the 13th to the 16th centuries, has a lovely, famous 16th-century alabaster altarpiece by Damian Forment, a sculptor who worked extensively in Aragon in both the Renaissance and Gothic styles.

The Legend of the Bell Huesca

However, Huesca is most often linked with the bloody Leyenda de la Campana (Legend of the Bell), a 12th-century atrocity that is depicted across the street from the cathedral in a painting at the town hall. On the pretext of wanting advIce from rebellious nobles about how to cast a bell bIg enough to be heard through the entire kingdom King Ramiro II lured his rivals into his council room and beheaded them as tney filed in one by one.

Also tour the Iglesia de San Pedro el Viejo (Calle Cuatro Reyes;), a 12th-century Romanesque church whose cloister is one of the finest Romanesque examples of its kind in Spain; King Ramiro spent the last years of his life as a monk in the Benedictine monastery formerly attached to the church, and is now buried in the church's Capilla de San Bartolome (St. Bartholomew Chapel). The church is closed Sunday afternoons; admission charge.

Things to do in Zaragoza

Seen from the road, the slender towers and imposing domes of the two cathedrals of Zaragoza (also known in English as Saragossa) are the only grace notes in a huddle of ugly warehouses, factories, and high-rise apartments.The Rio Ebro (Ebro River) shines through the dusty heart of the city like a great ribbon, and there are some elegant fountains and treelined avenues. Called Salduba when inhabited by the Iberians, then later a Roman colony, it was ruled by the Moors for 400 years, although only the Palacio Aljafaria constructed in 1030, remains
from that period.

Built as a pleasure palace for Moorish kings, its original Arabian Nights architecture was tampered with first by the Aragonese kings; , then by Ferdinand and Isabella, who claimed it as their throne room; and later by the zealots of the Inquisition, who used it as a headquarters (today, part of the building houses government offices). Though it also endured an ignoble stint in the 19th century as an army barracks and most of its interior fixtures have been removed, it has noteworthy artesonados (inlaid wood ceilings) and other Moorish and Gothic ornamentation, as well as a splendid tiny mosque.

The local nobility, wary of any sovereign, managed to secure guarantees of autonomy known asfueros, and under these conditions, commerce in this crossroads city boomed. The impressive 16th-century La Lonja, or commercial exchange building , has a lovely Gothic vaulted ceiling with cherubs dancing around the tops of the supporting columns; the building today houses temporary exhibits of local artists.

Zaragoza Cathedrals

On either side of La Lonja are Zaragoza's two cathedrals. The 16th to 18th century Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar (Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar) has nearly a dozen azulejo-covered domes and four towers surrounding a larger, central dome. On the interior of the domes are frescoes, some by Goya.

Also inside is the Capilla de Nuestra Senora del Pilar, a chapel that houses a Gothic statue of the Virgin del Pilar and a jasper pillar upon which the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St. James in AD 40. The chapel draws devout pilgrims, and on the Fiesta de la Virgen del Pilar (October 13) fervent followers parade the bejeweled statue through the city streets by the light of 350 carriage-borne lamps.

The cathedral's Museo del Pilar contains the jewelry and vestments used to adorn the statue, as well as some Goya sketches for the ceiling frescoes. The museum is open daily; admission charge. The old quarter south of the basilica, called EI Tubo, is an interesting warren of narrow streets with traditional shops and restaurants.

Zaragoza's older cathedral is the 14th-century Gothic Catedral de la Seo (Plaza de la Seo), now a melange of Gothic, Baroque, Plateresque, and Mudejar styles. Here there's also a museum, which features a striking collection of medieval and Renaissance French and Flemish tapestries. The cathedral and the museum are open daily; no admission charge. Also noteworthy is the Mudejar architecture of the Iglesia de Santa Maria Magdalena (Plaza de la Magdalena), a church elaborately decorated in brick and tile and topped by a large square tower. It's open daily, but for mass only.

The Museum of Fine Arts Zaragoza

Zaragoza's Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts; 6 Plaza de los Sitios; contains a worthwhile collection of Roman mosaics and artifacts, as well as paintings and etchings by Goya. It's closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays; admission charge. Located in what was once the Palacio Pardo, the Museo de CamonAznar (23 Calle Espoz y Mina; houses the former art collection of the scholar for whom the museum is named; included are works by Goya, Velazquez, and Zurbaran. It's closed afternoons and Mondays; admission charge.

Car hire Zaragoza Airport

If you are planning to travel to Zaragoza, book a hire car from Zaragoza Airport and pick it up easily when you arrive. Cheap airport car hire at Zaragoza Airport can be booked online, and you can take advantage of special car rentals deals and special offers.

Daroca information

Hidden in a hollow, this town is surrounded by two miles of crumbling walls that once boasted 114 fortified towers, many of which still stand. On the banks of the Rio Jiloca (Jiloca River), Daroca was once a Roman military settlement, which then saw heavy flghting under the Moors - mainly for control of the province by rival Moorish factions. King Alonso I of Aragon liberated the town in 1122.

Today, Daroca has few vIsitors, and not much sightseeing to offer aside from the impressive city gates and a few Mudejar churches, which are currently undergoing restoration.Not much is left of the craft tradition that distinguished the medIeval town; what remains is on display in the Museo del Santisimo Misterio which has a number of fine woodcarvings, as well as an interesting alabaster altarpiece showing Flemish influence.

Things to see in Teruel

The barren, flat-topped hills that surround this old-fashioned town, capital of the province of Teruel, are echoed in the ocher brick of its five Mudejar towers. Teruel is considered to have Spain's best examples of Mudejar architecture. The most noteworthy are two towers: the Torre de San MartIn at the Iglesia de San MartIn on Plaza de Perez Prado, and the Torre del Salvador, at the church of the same name on Calle Salvador.

Both date from the 13th century and both are adorned with fancy brickwork and porcelain plaques and tiles. The cathedral, originally built in the 12th century and formally called Santa Marfa de Mediavilla, has a tower first built in the 13th century, rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries and again in the 20th century following Spanish Civil War damage; it has a notable Mudejar ceiling.

A particularly grim winter during the civil war in 1937 saw Teruel devastated as the Republicans aided by American and British volunteers gained control, only to lose it a fortnight later to Franco's Nationalists. Los Arcos, the 16th-century aqueduct north of town, remained intact despite the heavy shelling and machine gun fire.

Teruel's main square is the Plaza de Torico, which is marked by an unusual fountain. In its center is a statue of a baby bull with a star between his horns, which has become the town's official symbol (Teruel, the name given the town by the Moors, means bull). Throughout Spain, however, Teruel is best known as the scene of the tragic love affair between Diego de Marcilla and Isabel de Segura, the star-crossed 13th-century Lovers of Teruel, whose story is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet.

A double grave, unearthed in the 16th century, was presumed to be theirs, and their embracing skeletons now rest in a macabre transparent crypt in a funerary chapel by another of the city's Mudejar towers, that of the 13th-century Iglesia de San Pedro.

Albarracin and things to do

This small medieval village rises in a breath-taking vetical sweep to the snaggle-toothed battlements that guard its rear, With the Rio Guadalaviar (Guadalaviar River) encircling It like a natual moat. The town fortifications date from the late 10th and 11th centuries and illustrate the military style of that time. The village has regained Its medieval character and as a result has been declared a natlnal monu.ment. Tall, half-timbered houses are daubed in rosy plaster, with balconies made of wrought iron or carved wood.

The museum in the chapter house of the 13th-century Catedral de El alvador Just off the Plaza Mayor in the center of town displays a collection of rather worn 16th-century Flemish tapestries, but the life Size trout. carved from rock crystal is more treasured by the villagers.