Murallas y Torres

The defensive walls of Albarracín are the town's most striking feature from a distance — a line of pale stone that climbs the steep ridge above the houses, crowned with square towers at intervals and dropping sheer down the gorge of the Guadalaviar on the far side. The walls are mostly Moorish in origin (11th century) with Christian additions, and large sections can be walked.

The standard climb is from the Plaza Mayor up to the Torre del Andador, the watch tower at the highest point of the circuit. The path is steep and stony but rewards you with one of the great medieval views in Spain — the russet rooftops of the old town below, the river coiling around the rock, and the pine-covered Sierra de Albarracín stretching away.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The walls were built by the Banu Razin, the Berber dynasty that ruled Albarracín as an independent taifa in the eleventh century. When Christian armies finally took the town in 1170 it became the seat of the Azagra family, who governed it as a semi-independent señorío — neither part of Aragon nor of Castile — for nearly two centuries. The strategic point was the same in both eras: control of the upper Guadalaviar valley and the natural pass between the Castilian meseta and the Mediterranean coast.

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