Castles: Both by Man and Nature
94.58 miles hiked, 4 Cultural Events Attended
As we were checking out of Los Siete Reyes, the owner Eduardo and I were laughing about me turning the heat on instead of the air conditioning the first night. Two folks working hadn’t heard the story and found it hilarious. At least I can add value by making the Spanish laugh. If that’s what it takes for international relationships to prosper, I will continue in my idiot ways.
Ainsa’s medieval walls and town is marvelous, and if you are anywhere close, you should go. I didn’t think to take many pictures of the town until this morning, but deliveries to business can only be done before 1:30 so the main plaza and roads were filled with cars and wasn’t photogenic. Interestingly, Ainsa was a very important town in the Middle Ages, but lost importance once the battle against the muslims moved farther south. With only a few hundred people for centuries, the building and walls were left alone. With the hydroelectric projects in the area starting in the 1940’s, and the founding of national parks, Ordesa y Monte Perdido and Sierra de Guarra, the population has been growing steadily in the last 50 years. Without the century part, it reminds me of Asheville, the town that couldn’t recover from the 1920’s and left the Art Deco buildings alone. Never underestimate benign neglect as a recovery strategy for the future is the lesson.
Our next stop is the town of Gallipienzo, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Instead of grinding out miles on the Spanish autopista (highway), we went the slow way. We are on vacation, so the slow way is the good way. The route took us through the top of the Meseta Central, the flat plain that most people associate with Spain. We’ve been through the area north of Madrid several times, but it feels like it’s as flat as a billiard table and, in two words, windy and hot.
After skirting the city of Huesca, we head back northwest to the foothills. Along the way I notice a cultural sign for Castillo de Loarre. Something tickles the back of my mind and I remember that super guide Alberto, mentioning something about visiting Loarre on our way to Gallipienzo. Since Pam always talks about visiting castles, it’s a no-brainer to follow the signs.
Most of the construction was between the 11th and 13th centuries as Loarre was on the front lines in the fight between the muslims and christians. A big part was built between 1033 and 1035. There was a lot of back and forth between various religious orders, which, honestly, was boring but involved one group saying the chapel of the other group was not true to the faith and thus we need to spend a ton of money/supplies to build a bigger chapel because our brand is better.
What was left was the Church of San Pedro, a Romanesque masterpiece with a dome over 85 feet tall. Surrounding the church are pillars capped with various sorts of motifs from religious, to vegetables, to fantastical. I guess the stone carvers managed to convince whoever was paying that “just trust us, we know what we are doing” was the plan of the day. The best part was the sound that echoed and bounced everywhere. The acoustics were amazing.
My favorite part of the castle’s history is that the castle was abandoned in the 1600’s so the stories are that the local shepherds used it as a refuge for them and their sheep for over 300 years. It just made me happy to think of a tired shepherd sleeping in the queen’s bedroom as it was raining outside, while their sheep were sheltered in the ruins of the Church of San Pedro.
It's totally worth a visit because there’s been a huge restoration effort starting in 1903 continuing to today. What’s nice is that the restoration hasn’t gone over the line into wholesale changes to make it bigger and more than it was. It gives you a very good idea of what the castle looked like and who lived there at the time. We enjoyed the spontaneous visit much more than we thought. A total thumbs up on the go visit scale.
There were two parts that we each individually thought were awesome. Pam says that while the castle was very cool, she’d love to see much more about how people lived in the castle. She wanted interpretive actors, period correct furnishing, and smells so she could feel the time. I told her that history will never do it for her, she needs a time machine. I think she related the most to the following picture because it discussed real life. (She’s probably going to kill me for the leap, but it’s true!)
As for me, the best part of the castle was in what was the guard house.
In the gift shop, I found something that will speak to all of you who watched TV in the 1970’s. This important icon showed us that it was OK to be tough, incorruptible, and caring at the same time.
After our man-made castles, we headed to the real castles in this part of Spain. When the tectonic plates were crashing together to form the Pyrenees, sediment from the mountains washed down and became cemented together by limestone. Over time the softer rock wore away and the resulting conglomerate rock formed towers. Today these are some of the best rock climbing in Spain and are known as the Mallos de Riglos.
Around these magnificent pillars is one of the most famous hikes in the Huesca region, Camino de Cielo (Path of Heaven). With a name like that, we absolutely had to do it. But given the popularity of the route, I was concerned that there would be a lot of people. Fortunately, we have figured out the secret how to see ZERO people (yes, as in NONE, ZIP, NADA) on one the most popular hikes around. As we had the spontaneous stop at the Castillo de Loarre, we were behind schedule. The trick is to start this hike at 3:00 PM when it’s stinking hot at 90° F and 75%+ humidity. Also, do the route backwards so you do all 1,216 feet of elevation gain in 1.5 miles of the 3.83 total. Sure, it sounds crazy, but we felt so fortunate to be in these stunning columns with just us and the many birds. I can’t speak for Pam, but my heart was so full of happiness seeing them with her it was overwhelming. When you sweat, and push like this, you earn the views. If you ever come to this part of Spain, you have to do this hike.
We still had a 1.5-hour drive to our next place, so stinky us got to it. We fought a little rush hour traffic coming from Pamplona going the other way but rolled through the countryside happy. As we got closer to Heredad Beragu, the roads got narrower and narrower to the point the weeds on both sides of the road were brushing the car. We can see the town of Gallipienzo up on the hill but are starting to wonder if we put the wrong address into the GPS. We turn a corner, and we see one of the most beautiful buildings we have seen in all our Spain travels, and, fortunately, a sign that says Heredad Beragu.
We arrived about 8:15 PM and were wondering what we were going to do for dinner. Checking in with the most gracious James, we see a sign that says dinner is served from 8:00-9:00 so we have a conundrum. We stink like crazy but having family who’ve been in the restaurant business we are insanely conscious about the staff because we know how hard they work. I told James that we wanted dinner but needed to toss our bags in the room. We head to the room and saw the following.
If you zoom into the letter, that’s a real wax seal with a letter addressed to us. Our room was just gorgeous, but we had dinner to get to before the kitchen closed at 9:00 PM. Our self-conscious stinky butts get to the dining room and see the view is even better than our room. We felt very out of place with the other three tables, especially when we realize that service to 9:00 PM means seating to that time, not the kitchen closing. 😹 We had plenty of time to clean up. You can take the goofs out of America, but you can’t take the American out of us goofs.
Then dinner starts and we forget our concerns with the superb service and perfect food. Who cares if we are still in our dirty hiking clothes, we are eating on another level. We shared a tomato, mozzarella, and olive salad that was at peak freshness. The local vino tinto (red) wine is transcendent, and then the main courses came. Pam had a great lasagna, and I opted for the braised beef cheeks “like grandma used to make.” My beef cheeks were so good I asked James that I prayed that the grandma in the kitchen would adopt me. He told me that the grandma was Ramón, one of the owners. I still asked if he would adopt me.
With man-made castles, natural castles, and castles of food (?)… OK, it’s late and the metaphor doesn’t work, but we had a day fit for a queen and king. Even better, I get to share it with all of you. That means the world to me. Thank you!
The scenery is awesome, but it didn't beat the room with the view and letter. WOW!
I squealed with delight at your room and an actual wax sealed letter. Another great day. Too hot for climbing at those rocks but I imagine they are crazy popular in cooler weather. Thank you for sharing!