The Chivlaric Leg - Uncastillo and getting there

The drive from La Torre to the small medieval hilltown of Uncastillo takes about three hours but can be nicely broken up at the midpoint by visiting Belchite and Fuendetodos, both sites of historical importance.

We drove through Belchite to Fuendetodos due to a time constraint as the House of Goya's birth closes, like many things in Spain, at 2PM.

We arrived with a half hour until closing time which was just enough time for a tour of the small museum and Goya's earliest residence. Then it was back for the fifteen minute drive to Belchite.

Belchite is a town that was destroyed during the Spanish civil war in not one, but two battles. The townspeople opted to rebuild the town some ways away and left the ruins standing as a monument to the folly, madness and destruction that is war.

The ruins are now fenced in, although you can arrange a guide within the fenced perimeter if you have the time and inclination, but you can still a short walk along the fenceline and get a good view of the ruins from various spots. It is relatively quiet, we saw only four other people during our 1/2 hour there, and well worth the visit if one is near Zaragoza.

After Belchite, it was back on the road to Uncastillo where we arrived just before 5PM and had a tour of the local church and the quaint town with our host, Miguel.

We have been consistently amazed at the magnitude of the churches within the medieval Spanish towns and Uncastillo did not disappoint!

The church was a blend of romanesque, gothic and baroque styles and had a few lovely items, such as a Romanesque miter discovered when the church was renovated in the 20th century, a lovely altarpiece and a carved choir from the 16th century where academics had recently discovered the hidden signature of its creators.


After the tour it was time for dinner at "La Pastora", the B&B we were staying at for the next two nights. Dinner was simple but good. Olives with orange and anchovy, salmon with white asparagus and rice with mixed vegetables.

A wander through the narrow streets after dinner in search of an open bar was fruitless (it being Sunday night) so we opted instead for an episode of the final season of Game of Thrones before hitting the sack.

The next day we awoke to a hearty breakfast and sunny skies which was a relief as we had arranged to rent e-assist bikes for the day for a trip to the nearby town of Sos del Rey Catolico, birthplace of Ferdinand II or Aragon.

The trip, billed as biking to the middle ages, was ~25km each way and involved a pretty significant hill climb; where we discovered the joys of e-assist biking!

Normally we would climb hills at less than 10km/hour but with the e-assist we practically flew up the hills at 20km/hr!

What would have been a three hour (exhausting) bike ride to get to Sos ended up taking an hour and a quarter with the e-assist bikes.

After arriving in Sos, we were met by a local guide who took our bikes for re-charging and then gave us a tour of lovely Sos. The tour started with a visit to the Iglesia de San Esteban (including the wonderful Crypt of Santa María del Perdón, begun in the mid-11th century and a look at the 8th century Baptismal Font wherein Ferdinand of Aragon was babtized) proceeded through the Jewish quarter to the Plaza de la Villa (with a medieval standard measure for fabric etched into the wall) and other sundry medieval sites. Quite a lovely tour!

Then it was time for a yummy tasting lunch at a local restaurant that took a bit of time (many dishes!) before we were ready to hop back on the bikes for the ride back to Uncastillo.

We arrived back in Uncastillo around 6PM and were not ready to stop riding for the day so we decided to visit the local site of Los Banales, an ancient Roman era ruin of a bath complex and aqueduct.

We biked to the nearby town of Layana and then proceeded down a dirt path for around 1.5km before arriving at the baths (fenced in and closed) and ultimately at the remains of the aqueduct, a string of sandstone pillars in the middle of nowhere.

It was very cool to be the only ones there and to be able to touch and walk around the 2000 year old pillars.

After a few minutes at Los Banales it was time to head back to Uncastillo (some 15km away) where we finally arrived just before 8PM and bumped into our host at La Posada who was just about to head out searching for us having become concerned about our lack of arrival at the B&B. We grabbed a cheap (20 euros) and cheerful dinner of salad, fries and meat at a local taverna (one of the few places open on a Monday) before enjoying another night wander through the lovely medieval town before hitting the sack (this time in the now available suite of La Pastora).