Aínsa sits on a hilltop above the meeting of two Pyrenean rivers, the Cinca and the Ara, and the old village on top is one of those places where the medieval layout has simply been left to get on with itself. You enter through a gate into a great sloping square of rough cobbles surrounded by stone arcades, with a castle and a Romanesque church on the high side and views out over the valley. It was once the capital of the little Kingdom of Sobrarbe, whose rulers, according to legend, rallied here against the Moors, and the town still stages a spectacular festival recalling that story every few years.
Today it is a small place, with a couple of thousand residents, and the arcaded square is filled with restaurants, craft shops and terraces in summer. Local food is hearty mountain Aragonese: grilled lamb, cured ham, mushrooms, and cheese, with the strong red wines of Somontano close by. The castle houses a museum of local history, and the church bell tower makes a good viewpoint. In the evening, when the day-trippers drift away, the square has an easy, lamp-lit calm.
The surrounding landscape is spectacular. To the north rise the high Pyrenees, including the Monte Perdido massif and the canyons of Ordesa, one of Spain's oldest national parks. To the south the land drops away into dry, folded hills and reservoirs with the unlikely turquoise of Mediano. Griffon vultures circle on the thermals and, with luck, the bearded vulture too, the bone-eating bird with a metre-and-a-half wingspan that makes the Pyrenees its stronghold. The sky here is often clear and the light is hard and bright.
For a motorcyclist, the road is the N-260, the Eje Pirenaico, a long east-west route that follows the grain of the mountains and crosses a series of passes and gorges. It is a twisting, demanding road, with plenty of hairpins and rock walls, and the surface is variable, with patches of gravel and occasional rockfall, so concentrate. Summer afternoons can be hot, and thunderstorms are possible in the mountains. Aínsa has the usual services for a small town, including fuel and shops, but supplies thin out in the valleys beyond, so top up here. Boltaña, a few kilometres south, has a few more services.