I was very excited about our next stop, Albarracín. It was supposed to be "the most impressive of Aragón's ancient hill towns" (according to Lonely Planet), and the photos that we had seen looked very impressive indeed. Only I got confused and thought Teruel was where we wanted to end up. So we drove to Teruel, parked, and walked around for about 20 minutes looking for the tourist office. We finally found it, asked for directions to the hotel where we had reservations, and were told that we were in the wrong city! Man, I felt idiotic. On the bright side, I guess we got to see one more town than we had planned - Teruel was a pleasant little town with plenty of old Moorish and medieval structures, and a high density of stores selling ham.

Anyway, we drove about 45 minutes further to our true destination, the town of Albarracín. It's an ancient town set among steep topography spread across two limestone hills, with a river flowing around one side and an intact wall making a semicircle around the other. Our hotel was on the slope of one of the hills, and we had a view from our room out over the other hill, which was topped with the town's grand cathedral and a small old castle. It was quite spectacular, and the weather was perfect. We spent the first evening chilling out, walking along the narrow old cobbled streets around our hotel and checking out the various taverns and shops. A short walk down one of those streets from our hotel led to the central plaza, where we enjoyed a nice dinner of fried potatoes, migas (with grapes, which I thought was odd - but tasty), and soup, plus the ubiquitous bottle of Rioja red. Wandering back to our hotel that night, I felt transplanted to a different time...

The next morning we had a quick breakfast (after sleeping in, of course), and explored the rest of the town. It's a really cool town, with super narrow alleys surrounded by old buildings that lean inward - very compact. In the central plaza they're constructing a stage and rickety-looking bleachers for the upcoming Fiestas - starting the next day, it was to be a week of parties with bands and orchestras. I guess we'd be escaping just in time! The next morning we had to be in Cuenca before they close the roads for the big Spanish bicycle race, the Vuelta a España. So we'd be hitting the road early. But we still had this afternoon and evening to enjoy in Albarracín...

We stolled around the castle and cathedral for a couple of hours, and then took a siesta and wrote a bunch of postcards. Nice nap! After the sun got a bit lower and the light got a bit better, we explored the walls up on the hill behind our hotel. It was pretty sweet - you could climb up an old metal ladder into one of the towers, and walk atop the wall for a few sections, all the way to the lowest tower where the wall ended above the river. The landscape was pretty dramatic, and we had a great time. And then we had another nice dinner at La Taberna in the main square, watching the crew put the final touches on lights and sound system. Finally, back to the hotel for showers and rest. I enjoyed my last Cuban cigar out on the balcony, listening to the bats squeeking past in the bright night sky lit up by the full moon.

We actually did manage to wake up early the next morning, and were checked out and on the road by 9:00. We enjoyed a nice slow drive southward through scenic canyons. It was pretty obvious when we crossed into Castilla-La Mancha community, as the road suddenly became more narrow and much less maintained. As we neared Cuenca through a particularly beautiful canyon, we came upon an interesting hollowed-out rock formation at the edge of a cliff. There was a little parking area, so we stopped and walked down from the road to the natural rock arch. It was called the Ventana del Diablo - the devil's window - and it was a nice little gem.We made it into Cuenca by noon, and already it was kind of crazy - totally geared up for the big bicycle race, which was due to sweep through town tonight and tomorrow. Roads would be closed for a couple of hours this afternoon, and from 9:00 a.m. onwards tomorrow. This worked fine for us - we had to be on the road by 7 to make it back to Madrid for our flight home. Anyway, after the requisite aimless wandering before we figured out where we were, we made it to the Parador - definitely the most fancy place we've stayed on this trip (and the most pricey - 180 euros a night). Hey, everything else was booked, so we had no choice!

I imagine we had the best view in town out of our hotel window - looking out across the canyon and right at the prettiest of the casas colgadas that Cuenca is known for. These "hanging houses" are constructed right on the edge of the canyon wall, with balconies jutting out over a rather large drop. Kind of spectacular! We'd return here for evening photos - for now we set off to explore the town. Cuenca's old town was beautiful to look at, with colorful old houses lining the narrow streets, but less satisfying to stroll through. It was much more of a "tourist dive" than any other place we visited on our trip, with a higher density of inebriated street people trying to hustle a few euros here and there, and unscrupulous restaurants that returned too little change. But the walk up to the remains of Cuenca's old fortress rewarded us with great views back down the canyon overlooking the Parador that was our home for the night.

Later that afternoon we were back at the Parador for a quick siesta, and we felt the excitement build as the bicycle race neared. We looked out and saw people streaming out of the buildings on the other side of the canyon, looking down at the road on the canyon floor. So we went down to the main patio of the hotel and joined a few other folks eager with anticipation. After a few minutes of waiting the motorcade emerged from within the canyon and drove in towards the town. Tons of police cars and motorcycles zoomed past. A handful of helicopters raced in and hovered. The crowd of spectators on the other side of the canyon continued to build up, and then... Zoooom! The leader (wearing the orange jersey) zipped by, all alone (well, surrounded by cars in front of and behind him, with big camera lenses poking out the windows). Then several clumps of follow-up bicyclists. Sweet! I suppose tomorrow will get pretty nuts, and we wished we had time to stick around and check it out.

That evening I snapped a bunch of photos from our hotel window, with the casa colgada nicely illuminated. It was perfect. Then we went down and enjoyed a most delicious meal in the Parador's restaurant. It started out with a cool glass of Montilla, a special sherry from southern Spain. (I guess this stuff is what inspired that creepy Edgar Allen Poe story, "The Cask of the Amontillado"). Daph had an amazing eggplant dish for dinner, with onions and peppers, and I had migas with an assortment of side dishes (shepherd food, I guess). The wine was particularly tasty - it was from Dinastía Vivanco, and I hope we'll be able to find it when we get back home. We slept like rocks, and managed to hit the road by 6:30 the next morning. It was smooth sailing back to Madrid, with the moon setting in front of us and the sun rising behind us. When we dropped the car at the rental return, we had put 2900km on it! Checking in was a breeze, and we only had about 30 minutes of waiting before they started boarding. Perfect! A nice smooth ending to a wonderful trip that was, like all vacations, too short...