CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
325 km from Almozara to Almozara, about 4 h 55 of riding. On the way it passes Iglesia de Santa María, Abside, Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros and back through Abside. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,050 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
The ride follows Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí → Iglesia de Santa María for 72 km.
The Aljafería is the one great building in Zaragoza that tells you the city was once Muslim. It was built in the eleventh century as a pleasure palace for the Hudid rulers of the taifa of Zaragoza, a small independent kingdom that emerged when the caliphate of Córdoba collapsed, and its inner courtyard, with slender arches that interlace and curve, is one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in the north of Spain. After the Christian conquest in 1118, it became a royal residence of the kings of Aragón, and the Catholic Monarchs added a sumptuous palace with gilded ceilings in the late fifteenth century. In the nineteenth century, it served as a barracks, and today it is the seat of the Aragonese parliament. The Mudéjar parts, the work of Muslim craftsmen who stayed after the conquest, are part of a UNESCO listing for Mudéjar architecture in Aragón.
Read the complete Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí is where the day begins. Next is Iglesia de Santa María.
Somewhere in the folds of the Sierra de Algairén, south-west of Zaragoza, a bell tower pokes up above a cluster of ochre roofs, and that is your Iglesia de Santa María. Half the villages of Aragon have a church of that name, and this one does the job the others do: it marks the middle of a small place where the shop, the bar and the plaza all orbit the same square of stone. The nearest neighbours on the map are Cosuenda, Almonacid de la Sierra and Alpartir, each a few hundred souls, each about nine kilometres off.
Read the complete Iglesia de Santa María write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Iglesia de Santa María comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abside.
The apse in question belongs to the collegiate church of Santa María in Calatayud, and it is one of the reasons UNESCO lists the Mudéjar architecture of Aragon as a whole. Mudéjar means the building style of Muslim craftsmen living under Christian rule after the reconquest, and in Calatayud they did wonderful things with humble brick: geometric patterns, lozenges and interlacing arches laid out in relief, glazed tiles catching the sun. Next to the apse rises an octagonal brick tower that is the town's signature, and behind it a cloister, all three named in the listing.
Read the complete Abside write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 107 km into the recorded legs you reach Abside. Next is Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros.
The prehistoric painters of eastern Spain had a thing for archers. Across hundreds of rock shelters from Catalonia to Andalusia, they painted small, dynamic human figures drawing bows, chasing deer and goats, sometimes fighting each other, and these scenes of the so-called Levantine style are part of the UNESCO listing of rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Shelters with names like the Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros, the shelter of the black archers, are scattered through the limestone hills of the province of Teruel and its neighbours in Aragon, often in remote ravines and protected by grilles.
Read the complete Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros, about halfway. Next is back through Abside.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abside write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abside sits at 217 km, about halfway. Next is back through Iglesia de Santa María.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Iglesia de Santa María write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Iglesia de Santa María comes up about 252 km into the recorded legs. Next is Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí closes the day.
Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí → Iglesia de Santa María is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Iglesia de Santa María → Abside is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abside → Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo de los Arqueros Negros → back through Abside is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abside → back through Iglesia de Santa María is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Iglesia de Santa María → Restos mudéjares de palacio de la Aljaferí is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.