Damp, misty and murky.
We were getting a bit cabin feverish, especially the Pup after yesterday, being cooped up in the Van apart from little forays to the supermarket and to take Pup out for toilets. The weather didn’t look good for today, as this area was being clipped by a storm front further south, but we would take our chances and walk to the nearby medieval town of Alquezar, some 25 minute walk away.
We donned our wet gear and walking trainers and headed out of the campsite, expecting to walk on the road, but this was obviously a big tourist area as there was a pavement snaking up the hill. It was a decent pull up, enough to get the old heart pumping away and warming us up – there was a view out there somewhere but we just had a wall of mist to look at.
https://www.spain.info/en/destination/alquezar
We came up to a roundabout, directing tourist traffic away to cars parks outside the village with the road into the village itself, cordoned off with electronic barriers. The village loomed out of the murk, perched on the hillside, built in the sandstone stone. Mist hung in the air as we wandered its narrow streets, with a maze of little alleyways diving off at all angles, all asking to be investigated. Alquezar was very picturesque and very quiet at this time of year with a few fellow tourists wandering around. With the size of the car parks, this place must heave with visitors in the summer – just the number of hotels and restaurants gave you a clue on its popularity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alqu%C3%A9zar
We came across the Colegiata de Santa Maria la Mayor, the main church of Alquezar, perched on an outcrop, just about visible in the fogginess, opposite was a huge limestone cliff – unbeknown to us, there was a deep ravine plunging downwards between the two. Two walkers, in full walking gear and sticks, began to drop down – this seemed to be serious hiking area. It would of been nice to have followed them, but we weren’t properly equipped so abandoned that idea and went off to search for coffee.
We found a tiny little place next door to the ultra modern tourist information office and sat outside with coffees, churros and chocolate croissants. I went to the tourist office, after a map of Spain so we could continue to track our route in bright pink felt tip pen, but came out with a map of the Aragon area instead. Not quite what I was after, but it was a great map to chart our next chapter. When I came out, the Pup was centre of attention with a group of people making a big fuss of her which she milks as much as she can. We fell in conversation with a lovely Belgian family (dogs and babies are a great icebreaker) and swapped stories about our respective trips. We carried on with our wanderings, down narrow cobbled streets, noticing that the mist was getting thicker and our weather app forecasting rain for the afternoon. We decided to call it a day, disappointed that we hadn’t seen any views which would of been spectacular, and meandered back down to the campsite. We literally just opened the door of the campervan when the heavens opened and it began to rain steadily. We relaxed by looking at our newly acquired literature and figured out where to go next – we wanted to dodge the worst of the unseasonal weather hitting Barcelona and Tarragona on the coast and so plotted a course to the south west of Aragon.
The rain was persistent so we spent the afternoon reading and relaxing. We made tea and around 7pm, I took the Pup for a walk around the campsite for her ablutions. The rain had nearly stopped, just spitting as we wandered around and the thick mist finally had lifted – I could see across the woodlands to nearby towns, the mist rolling away on the horizon. Even the setting sun tried to make an appearance through a brief gap in the cloud, briefly turning the sky a reddish pink. The views from Alquezar would be fabulous now.
We returned to the Van and settled down again. As darkness fell, so did the rain, pattering heavily on the roof and windscreen. Tomorrow the sun and warmth are due to return as we move on from Alquezar and head to the south west discovering more delights of this region.
