Teruel - 15 September 2024

15.09 - Teruel - Aragon 

Another peaceful night in Zaragoza. Luckily, the temperature drops to about 13/14° overnight - so not too hot to sleep!

Definitely in need of services this morning - after breakfast, showers etc - loo full, and run out of water!

This trip, we’ve been trying to keep on top of laundry a bit more, so today, as Dave was being filled with water the drain was open and I was rinsing our clothes! It’s really silly - we both have so many clothes with us, but seems easier to wash and wear and rotate a few. Won’t be doing this next week when the rain and lower temperatures are due!

Me driving today - 2 hours. Easy and quite boring driving once out of Zaragoza - and even that was easy - maybe because it’s Sunday?

We’re parked up in Teruel - really nice free place - lots of parking in the shade - which is good for today. Dave’s nose was in sunshine - washed all our towels etc - hung inside and all dry when we came back after our cycle! Strangely satisfying 😊

The green eyed monster came out - Tintin spotted the two Carthagos we’d seen in Zaragoza - and had to compliment the English man on his purchase. Meanwhile - us gypsies were busy using the spin dryer in Dave’s garage!

Up to about 29° in the sun today. Hard to believe the forecast which says it will be 9° at 8am tomorrow morning! 

So - Teruel - population about 33,000, elevation 928m. The town is synonymous with Mudéjar architecture. It’s Spain’s smallest provincial capital, but surprisingly bustling and lively. A Moorish fort existed here from the 10th century, but the city itself was founded in 1171 by a conquering Christian King, Alfonso II. The bitter battle of 1937-38 was one of the bloodiest in the Spanish Civil War, claiming an estimated 140,000 casualties. 

Google took us to an elevator to get into town. Only one bike at a time fitted in, I went first. Tintin had issues - not only with the lift stopping - but a man giving him grief for using the lift. Tintin did offer for him to go first. Not our fault the other lift wasn’t working! Anyway - made a quick escape before he appeared! Luckily I’d taken some photos of the views, oblivious to what was going on.

Initially struggled to find somewhere to lock up our bikes - in fact - didn’t see any bike loops at all today. 

The Plaza del Torico is considered the centre of the town - very busy today. 

The Torre de San Martin (blue) and the Torre de El Salvador (green) towers look very similar. 

Even the steps leading to the train station are very different. Will modern architecture (if it survives!) capture our imagination in years to come…

We stopped off in the plaza - a beer for him, and a coke for me (€5). Then visited the cake shop with delights for later… 

We wandered up to our bikes. We saw Le Petit Train equivalent passing - and decided to follow it! Great fun - he was only speaking in Spanish though - but we then rode places we wouldn’t have by ourselves!