Albarracin

This very pretty mountain village in Aragon, like many historic villages, sits on a hilltop.  The pink-hued medieval houses sit balanced on the rocky outcrop.  So authentic are its twisting narrow streets with their overhanging wooden balconies that one half expects Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to appear from around a blind corner.

The town square where they had erected a wooden structure for the bull fight for a recent festival.  They were dismantling it when we were there.  We had seen a similar thing in another town.

The original city walls and fortifications with the ruined castle dating from the 9th century when the town was an important Islamic military post.  The town was the seat of a tiny Islamic state ruled by the Berber Banu Razin dynasty with links to Cordoba.

Our hotel, the Meson del Gallo, is the result of an aesthetic reforma (restoration) of three traditional village houses.  It is very nicely situated at the foot of the medieval town.

Andrew standing on our balcony.

Sitting in our lovely room in front of the balcony overlooking greenery on one side and the medieval town on the other with the sun streaming in.  It is one of the nicest places we have stayed at on this trip to Spain and by no means the most expensive.

This is Nikki trying to do a Mary Poppins imitation coming down the steps in the pouring rain last night.  A bracing walk back to our hotel after a greasy meal was just the thing, but we could have done without the rain.

Two night shots of Albarricin.  The defensive wall and the castle lit up.

The cathedral.