Alquézar sits on a rock above the Vero river like a village in a children's book, with a golden collegiate church crowning the hill and houses stacked beneath it. About five kilometres from here, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, the sandstone and limestone cliffs hold small shelters with prehistoric paintings, and Fajana de Casabón is one of them. The painted shelters of the Vero valley are part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art that UNESCO listed in 1998.
What you can enjoy freely is the village. Alquézar has about three hundred permanent residents, but in summer it fills with visitors, so the streets, with their arcaded square and old stone houses, can be crowded. The collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor stands on the site of a Muslim fortress, the name Alquézar coming from the Arabic for castle, and it was a stronghold of the frontier until the Christian king Sancho Ramírez took it in the late eleventh century. The church's Romanesque cloister has carved capitals that repay a slow look, and the view from its terrace over the river gorge is excellent.
The roads here are best taken slowly. From Barbastro the road to Alquézar follows the Vero upstream, then climbs through almond and olive terraces in a series of easy bends. Beyond the village the lanes narrow, the surface grows rougher, and the corners are sharper, so it is a ride for a light bike and a patient mind. Weekends can be busy with walkers, cyclists and canyoning vans, so early starts are wise.
Alquézar is too small to count on for fuel, so fill the tank at Barbastro, about twenty kilometres away, where you will find larger shops and many places to eat. The local specialities are lamb from Aragon, game, mountain vegetables and the red wines of the Somontano. A glass of wine and a plate of ham on the village terrace is a very fine way to end a morning.
Come in spring, when the terraces are green, or in October, when the light is softer and the crowds have gone.