The first thing to know about Teruel is that it is cold. At about nine hundred metres on a high, bare plateau of eastern Spain, it has a reputation as one of the chilliest provincial capitals in the country, and in the winter of 1937 and 1938 the bitter weather turned the battle of Teruel, one of the bloodiest of the Civil War, into a freezing ordeal. The town is also one of the loveliest in Aragón, famous for its Mudéjar towers, brick-and-tile belfries built by Muslim craftsmen working for Christian patrons in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and listed by UNESCO. The ride starts at one of them, the label Torre simply meaning the tower, and then heads out to the Ceja de Piezarrodilla and the Peña del Castellar, where rock art is found in the hills outside the city.
The towers are worth a long look. Their sides are patterned with geometric designs in ceramic tiles, green and white, set into red brick, and their silhouettes dominate the old town. Local legend ties the city to the Lovers of Teruel, Isabel and Diego, whose tragic love story, say the storytellers, ended in the church of San Pedro. Their mummified bodies, according to tradition, lie in a mausoleum next to it, and tourists pay to see them.
Teruel is also known for its cured ham, which has a protected name and a flavour that rivals anything from farther west, and for the plain, hearty food of a cold country. A ham bocadillo and a coffee are all you need.
Riding in is easy. The roads across the plateau are wide and fast, with long views and not many corners, though the wind can be fierce and winter ice is real, so check the forecast between November and March. The city has a good range of fuel stations, and with more than thirty-five thousand people, it has all the services you could need. Villastar and Villel, small villages nearby, offer little but quiet and a bar. Parking is simple around the edge of the old town, and walking its lanes takes an hour well spent.