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Aragón

 

Aragón

posted on 07/20/2009 04:40 AM

 North to south, the land of Aragón rings the changes, from the awesome snow-plastered mountains of the Pyrenees to the arid mesas of Teruel. Between these two Spanish extremes is a more modest, even at times, dull landscape; but pinned at the very heart of the region is the great bustling city of Zaragoza, while a host of smaller towns, stone-walled villages, historic monasteries and castles pepper the landscape. Each one has written its chapter or footnote in the dramatic history of Aragón, a region whose neighbours are France, Navarra, Catalonia, Valencia and the Castilian heartland; all, at one time or another, enemies at the gate. Today, you take your pick of Aragón’s many gifts. The great mountains of the north cater for skiers and mountaineers while their foothills are a walkers’ paradise of canyons, pretty villages, lonely castles and venerable monasteries with some outstanding Romanesque architecture. For an urban fix, the region’s main city, Zaragoza, bursts at the seams with sound and fury and may leave even the most streetwise reeling; but the city is big-hearted and hides an astonishing array of Roman ruins beneath its sombre monumental buildings and churches. Central Aragón consists mainly of treeless depressions and forlorn plateaus. Further south, you reach other, thinly populated mountain regions, sprinkled with picturesque, mysterious villages. The towers of Teruel, the south’s biggest town, are among the masterpieces of Spanish Mudéjar architecture.

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