Around ten kilometres from Alcañiz, in a dry ravine among olive groves and limestone ledges, a rock shelter holds one of the most celebrated scenes of Levantine rock art in Spain. The paintings at Val del Charco del Agua Amarga show archers in motion, hunting and perhaps fighting, their thin bodies drawn with a few confident strokes in red. Many experts consider it one of the finest examples in the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art, and seeing it, even protected behind a fence, gives a real jolt of connection to people who lived here several thousand years ago.
The shelter lies in the Bajo Aragón, a landscape of ochre hills, terraced olive groves and pine-dotted ridges, cut by the valleys of the Guadalope and Matarraña rivers. The olive oil from here carries its own designation of origin and is sweet and fruity. Calanda, a few kilometres away, is famous for its Easter drumming, when thousands beat drums through the night, and it was the birthplace of the filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Alcañiz itself is crowned by a castle of the Order of Calatrava, now a parador, with a Gothic town hall and a lively main square below.
For riders, the name Alcañiz means one thing: MotorLand Aragón, the international circuit just outside town that hosts MotoGP and track days. Even if you do not ride on it, the surrounding roads are a delight, with fast, open bends across the hills, and quieter routes south into the Maestrazgo and east towards the Matarraña that wind through gorges and old stone villages. Traffic is light. Summer heat can be fierce, the cierzo wind from the northwest can push you around on exposed ridges, and spring and autumn are the best seasons.
Alcañiz has over sixteen thousand people, plenty of fuel stations, restaurants and hotels. Visits to the rock shelter are typically arranged with local guides or the regional interpretation centres, so check before turning up. Afterwards, try a plate of local ham, olives and bread drizzled with Bajo Aragón oil, and the peaches of Calanda in late summer, each one famously grown inside its own paper bag on the tree.