Aragon - The Land of Moors and Romans

The provinces of Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel cover an area of 47,719 km² and make up the autonomous community in the north east of Spain called Aragon. More than half the population of 1.2M inhabitants live in the regions capital Zaragoza (English pronunciation: Saragossa) leaving the rest of the region quite sparsely populated creating large deserted areas.

The region is bordered on the south by Valencia and on the north by France. Catalonia and the Ebro valley with its flat and fertile lands is on the east and on the west are Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon, La Rioja and Navarre.

Great possibilities for winter sports are offered by the mountain ranges and in summer you can explore the almost unspoiled beauty, artisany, folklore and the celebrated gastronomy of the region.

Animals long since extinct in other areas of Europe can still be found in the mountainous landscapes of this region which was one of the centres of Spanish culture in medieval times.

Major Attractions in Aragon

Zaragoza

Situated beside the Ebro River, is the region’s capital – Zaragoza. The Romans and Moors, who in their respective times dominated the region, are depicted in paintings located in the many museums and galleries, by artists ranging from Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Velazquez and Goya to Renoir, Manet and Sorolla.

Teruel

The city’s great Mudejar style monuments and buildings, which are a consequence of a long Moorish domination, are most noteworthy. Highlights include the cathedral with its beautiful bell towers and the churches of San Martin, San Pedro and El Salvador. A combined theme park, Dinopolis Terual, can be found on the outskirts of Terual – it includes a museum that focuses on dinosaurs and has a life-size motorized model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Huesca

Located at the base of the Pyrenees mountain range is the town of Huesca, which offers scenery of outstanding beauty. The main annual festival in San Lorenzo (Laurence) is held on 10 August, in honour of San Lorenzo who was bishop of Roma and martyrized by the Romans.

Climate of Aragon

Aragon is noted for its Mediterranean - Continental dry climate with irregular rainfall, large temperature ranges and strong winds, particularly along the Ebro Valley. The region also has some of the most extremes of temperature in Spain as a result of its continental position, far away from the effects of the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

The most consistently cold part of the Iberian peninsular (apart from the mountains of course) is said to be the valley of Jiloca in Teruel, which has a record temperature low point of -28/-30ºC occurring in Calamocha. It is not uncommon for large areas of southern Aragon to have as many as 120 days of frost in any given year.

Aragonese Cuisine

Aragon’s typical cuisine includes roast lamb (especially ewes); ham (jamón) from Teruel; olive oil from Empeltre and Arbequina and wines from Cariñena, Somontano (Huesca), Calatayud and Campo de Borja. There are also quite a few marvellous dishes of seafood, including several kinds of crab paste (influenced by the superstition that crabs help prevent illness) and steamed, but quite commonly undercooked sea fish, steamed in the saltwater they were taken from.

A visit to Aragon is a visit that will immerse the traveller into Spain’s rich heritage and one which will continue the tradition of this regions visits from people of other nationalities.

Written by Mark Buckingham, Managing Director of Rentaccomspain.com, an online resource where you can find a wealth of Spanish property for rent and for sale.