We set off from Sos to visit Uncastillo, and Luesia. We had been to Uncastillo in the past, but Luesia was new.
Over the hills to Uncastillo
The road climbs up out of Sos to the pass, and then into the next valley.
When we drove this road to Uncastillo once before we came across a herd of goats! We looked out for them, but the drive was uneventful and before long we were driving into the town. Uncastillo is one of the Cinco Villas, an area in this part of the north of Spain. The Five Towns are Ejea, Tauste, Sos, Uncastillo, and Sadaba, and the only one we have not visited is Tauste. These were towns which owed allegiance to the King of Aragon in the Middle Ages.
Santa Maria la Mayor
The Church of Santa Maria dates from the 12th century, and sits on top of an earlier building.
The carvings over the South Door, and under the eaves are extraordinary, and some of the details are quite curious…
Inside, the church is clearly Romanesque, with a single nave, but a very ornate canopy at the back end. A group was on a conducted tour, so we slipped in but couldn’t linger.
Grand mansions and corners
The Juderia
We walked here before,1 one of the best preserved Jewish quarters in Aragon, and active from the 11th to late 15th centuries, when the Jews were expelled from Spain unless they converted to Catholicism. The Jewish community was commercially very successful and apparently contributed as much as 30% of public tax in the region.
Sights in the Juderia in Uncastillo
Along the river
The river, as before, was dry, but walking on the opposite bank to the town gives good views up to the Castle. I also hope some figs would be leaning over the walls of the allotments, but I was too late!
Fire
And beyond the sports centre the evidence of the fires in July this year were obvious. The hillside was burned, and you could still smell burning. Somehow, the fire fighters stopped the blaze at the very edge of the town, but the town itself was evacuated.2
And then it was time to sit down in the town square for coffee! Part 2 of this post will be Luesia.
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