Pinturas Rupestres del Rodeno

Six kilometres east of Albarracín, in a forest of pink sandstone outcrops and umbrella pines, the Pinturas Rupestres del Rodeno are a series of prehistoric rock paintings in the Spanish Levantine style: stylised hunters, archers, deer, and bulls in red and black ochre, sheltered in small overhangs in the cliff.

There are several signposted shelters along a marked walking trail that takes about two hours round-trip from the small visitor centre. The paintings themselves are now protected behind metal grilles to prevent vandalism, but the views into the shelters are clear and the setting — silent pine forest, twisted sandstone, sweeping views back to Albarracín — is as memorable as the art itself.

things to do sight
A story
The rock paintings of the Sierra de Albarracín are part of the UNESCO-listed "Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula" — over 750 sites scattered across eastern Spain. The Albarracín group includes the curious "Roldan archer" of Cueva del Navazo, a black-painted hunter with bow drawn that has become the symbol of Spanish Levantine rock art and is reproduced in every textbook on the subject. The paintings are around 6,000 years old.