LES ALENTOURS

About 19 kilometers east of Alcañiz, you can discover the rock paintings of Val del Charco de Agua Amarga. They are accessible by the Camino, an old railroad track (information at the tourist office), classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. They cannot be visited because they are protected by a double gate, but you can see them through the gate. Heading southwest (about 40 kilometers), you can discover the lovely village of Molinos and its beautiful Gothic church. Not far from there are the Cuevas de las Graderas (Crystal Caves), prehistoric shelters decorated with stalagmites and stones carved by time. To the west of the road to Teruel lies the Maestrazgo Cultural Park, a near-desert nature reserve and a Carlist stronghold in the 19th century. Filled with historical reminders of the Middle Ages, this area is especially famous for having been the site of the reconquest of the Moors in the 11th century by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (the famous Cid). South of Alcañiz, towards Catalonia, the little frequented and very wild area of Matarraña shelters some isolated villages. About 100 kilometers along the N-232 and then the N-420, you can pass through Valdealgorfa, where you can see rock paintings that are very similar to the real thing. Then Calaceite, a typical Aragonese village with a beautiful main square. Then you will reach Valderrobres and its 15th century Heredia castle.