Albarracín - and how we got there

I am writing my first post in 2024 from a hotel room. I hope you all had a nice time during the last days of the 2023 year and welcomed the new one with a smile, good thoughts and optimism. We spent our last day at home, in family, the three of us. My son and I were playing music, we practised some pieces he will need this year for an exam and all in all it was so nice, to spend the hours together.

Also, we have done a raffle. We took three pieces of paper and each wrote a city where we could go together. The only rule was to choose a destination in Spain, that we could go to by car. There is no time to travel to a different country as by Friday we have to be back at home. I have a gig in the evening.

So, I wanted to visit Cuenca, my husband Teruel and my son Zaragoza. The little pieces of paper were closed, put into envelopes and put into a hat. My son had to close his eyes and pick one. And what luck for him!!! It was his paper that came out. He was the winner!

Although we visited Zaragoza just two months ago (husband and I) it was now our son's wish to go there. And the luck was on his side. We booked the hotel the very next day after browsing a bit on booking, and here we are now, in that hotel in Zaragoza, until Thursday.

However, we didn't come directly from home here to Zaragoza. First, we visited a village that is not so far away from the destination we reached this afternoon. We made a little detour to a beautiful village called Albarracín.

The road that connects the highway and this village was a bit challenging, full of serpentines. The young man was protesting, as he was not feeling so well with those curves, but in the end, it was worth taking this detour and visiting Albarracín. Let me show it, at least those parts of the town we could see during our stay.

The first impression was that we were in a fairy tale. Because of the houses. I could imagine the tales of the Brothers Grimm for example, and place the story here, in this environment. Very old, stone houses with small windows, stone pavements and narrow streets, stairs all around.

We got a map of the town from a tourist office and the lady who worked there said that it would be difficult to find a place to eat. The village is small, there are a lot of people who have come and reserved the table in the restaurants.

One of the tasks was not to get lost (but we did haha, one boy wanted to go up the stairs, the other down the street and I was in the middle - using the opportunity to take a photo 😁). The second task was to find a restaurant and book a table.

Passing this wall, and one or two more streets, we arrived at the main square. There were some stalls, but unfortunately, they were closed. I suppose it was a Christmas market as the stalls were decorated in that way.

Anyway, our goal was to find a restaurant. We saw this taberna, but it was full. Full. Sitting outside would be out of mind (not for the people in the photo, they found it fine, but it was cold). Just a few minutes later a group of people who finished their tapas left and we entered.

La Taberna restaurant was so cosy inside. The waiters worked quickly, we got a table, ordered and enjoyed our meals when they arrived.

This was the garlic soup, which my husband ordered. I had a vegetable cream, and then as a second course, we had tenderloin, potatoes, roasted paprika, chicken with tomato, ham and bread.

A nice reminder on the wall. We don't have wi-fi. Talk with each other.

We warmed up with that lunch and got energy, so a further exploration of the village could happen. Though it was cold...

There were some guided visits, but we went on our own.

Streets going up and down, a good exercise for sure, to lose the calories we just got. The food was tasty but we noticed the cuisine is suitable for these lands and cold winter days. I mean, with more calories, that for sure are needed here.

From the main square, there were some nice views toward this part of the town and this church with the blue roof on the tower. But later, we went toward it and saw the even more interesting houses.

I loved these balconies, made of wood. This is a charming place, and if you have a chance to get to this mountainous part of Aragón, it would be worth visiting Albarracín. Now I see why it is also proclaimed one of the nicest villages in Spain.

Like in a tale, I say you. Just look at these stone towers.

There were some really narrow streets that when I looked toward the sky, I could see just a little, thin part of it. The roofs were so close one to another. It was dark in those streets, btw.

Another interesting detail was the view through this passage, to a stone house between two streets. How old it could be? I didn't check but my take would be a few centuries.

In the map we got from the lady in the tourist office there was a marked path to the old walls of Albarracín. The sky was so cloudy already, though we had umbrellas (in the car 😂) in case it started raining. The path was going uphill and in zig-zag, and in one moment we decided not to continue with this activity.

This was the place where we turned back toward the village again. I know it would be cool to climb all the way up to the top of the walls, but maybe next time, with nicer weather and fewer clothes (we had several layers of clothes because of the cold).

The walking back gave also some really charming views. We were happy and it was the important thing. Two hours of driving to Zaragoza still waited for us and it was time to set the GPS. My husband said his phone just switched off and didn't want to give signs of life. It happened with my phone too 😱. They died.

The only phone that still worked was our son's iPhone.

Already in the car our phones also came back to life. We realized it was too cold for the batteries, as there was no other explanation for why it happened. Anyway, we arrived at our next destination from where this post was written. This is an interesting way how to start the new year :)

I wish you all a happy, lovely new year, and to travel a lot!!