On a clear day, from the high ground north of Alquézar, you can see the Pyrenees laid out like a wall, with snow on the crests until June and the long grey ridge of the Sierra de Guara in the foreground. Ereta de Litonares lies about three kilometres from the village, and the word ereta, a small threshing floor, hints at the open, level patches of rock and earth that farmers used to thresh grain in the wind. A threshing floor needs a breeze and a view, and so does anyone who wants to look at mountains.
The shelter at Ereta is one of the painted shelters of the Vero valley, part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art that UNESCO listed in 1998.
Alquézar itself is the natural viewpoint. The collegiate church stands on the rock above the river, and from its terrace you look over the gorge and the terraced fields to the foothills beyond. The village has an old arcaded square, a few cafés and restaurants, and a quiet that returns in the evening when the day visitors have gone. The Church of Santa Maria de l'Assumpció, which shares the ride, is a village church elsewhere on the ride, in a different valley and a different mood.
The roads around are generally narrow and winding, climbing over small ridges between oak scrub and olive terraces. Surfaces vary, and gravel is common in the bends, so a relaxed pace is best. For fuel and shops you need to drop down to Barbastro, about twenty kilometres from Alquézar, where you will also find a good variety of restaurants and a cathedral. The best light for the view of the Pyrenees is early in the morning or in the hour before sunset.
Spring is excellent for snow-capped peaks, and autumn for the clarity of the air.