How to make a village out of living lumps of wool: Sheep graze their way up a small rise outside the village of Gallocanta, in Aragón. The town of Gallocanta may be more famous for its cranes, but sheep Continue Reading →
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Lighting the Way
Ornate iron street lamps glow in the backlight of a late winter afternoon on the Carrer Jaume I in Barcelona. Jaime I, King of Aragon, is an important figure in Catalan history, promoting language and culture while ousting the French and expanding the Crown of Aragon across Catalonia and the Mediterranean. Photo ©Mike Randolph
Cultural Crossroads
Semana Santa in Spain: In a nighttime Holy Week procession, hooded penitents push a statue of the Virgen Mary past the mudéjar wall of Zaragoza’s La Seo Cathedral. Mudéjar architecture, with its distinct Islamic influence (note the geometric patterns), reached its zenith in Aragon, where buildings such as La Seo form part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photo ©Mike Randolph
Stone Cold
The Medieval town of Aínsa is a gateway to the high Pyrenees mountains in the province of Huesca, Aragón. It’s days like this one, when the cold mountain winds bring a fresh blanket of snow, that make you wonder what it was like to live in a stone house in the mountains before the age of electrical heating. Photo ©Mike Randolph
Medieval, but with Street Lamps
Midnight in Sos del Rey Católico and the streets are deserted. This stone village in northern Aragón was built on a rocky hill in the 10th century as a Christian fortress to repel attacks from Moorish armies. The etymology of the word Sos is unclear. Some say it was the name of the hill on which the village was built, others say it’s of Basque origin and refers to the Celtic tribes that once inhabited this part of northern Spain. Five centuries later, in 1452, Continue Reading →