The name means the smoky little shelter, and it fits: a modest overhang darkened by soot, one of the rock art sites around Alacón in the Río Martín Cultural Park in Teruel province. The Martín river has carved canyons through limestone here, and its walls hold dozens of painted panels, from naturalistic Levantine hunting scenes to the later schematic style of stick figures and symbols. Alacón alone has several groups of shelters, and the park has an interpretation centre in the area to explain them.
This is a hard, beautiful land. Villages are small, Alacón has a few hundred inhabitants and Oliete and Muniesa not many more, and the hills around them are covered with almond trees, cereal fields and scrub. Griffon vultures ride thermals over the canyon, and in spring the slopes turn briefly green and yellow with broom. Summers are hot and dry, winters cold and windy, and the light is extraordinary in the evening when the rock glows orange.
The roads that link these villages are narrow, quiet and mostly well paved, with plenty of bends as they wander from plateau to river and back again. Expect gravel on the inside of corners, livestock now and then, and the odd tractor, but very little traffic otherwise. It is the sort of place where you can ride for an hour and see three cars. The way in from Andorra, the mining town to the east, and the road along the Martín toward Ariño and Oliete are especially rewarding.
Andorra de Teruel, the nearest town of size at about twenty four kilometres, grew around lignite mining and a big power station whose chimney once dominated the skyline. It is also one of the towns of the Ruta del Tambor y Bombo, the drum route, where during Holy Week thousands of people beat drums through the night, a tradition made famous by the film maker Luis Buñuel, who was born in nearby Calanda. If you are passing at Easter, the noise is unforgettable.
Fuel, supermarkets and proper restaurants are in Andorra; the small villages may have a bar, but do not count on a filling station. Bring water, especially if you plan to walk to the shelters, which usually involves a short hike on rough paths in full sun. A hat is not optional here in July.