Medinaceli--Getting a glimpse of the real Spain

From Madrid, Faeth and I needed to decide where to go next. While I wanted to visit southern Spain, with its cities such as Seville and Granada, we decided that instead of rushing around trying to cram everything into one trip, we’d take the leisurely route up to Barcelona, where we needed to finish so Faeth could catch her flight home. Thus, we hopped on an Alsa bus (the Spanish equivalent of a Greyhound) and headed north towards Zaragoza. But before reaching that major city, we bailed out at a tiny truck-stop town named Medinaceli.

 

Blink and you'll miss it

Faeth had found Medinaceli on the internet. Going off its population of only 800 and its rural setting, we figured it would be a refreshing break from the big cities we’d been bouncing around lately. Sure enough, the town was very laid-back. We arrived during “vacation,” a time in summer where Europeans simply take off work, pack up and drive off for a few weeks. So there was almost no one even in the town, which was fine with us. We found a cozy hotel attached to a truck stop (the private room was much appreciated!) and settled down for a day or two of relaxation.

Medinaceli’s claim to fame is a giant Roman arch in the northern part of town. (The town is divided into two parts, half at the foot of a hill and half on top of the hill.) The arch is the only three-gated Roman arch in Spain, apparently, built in the 1^st-3^rd centuries AD. To reach it, you had to hike about a mile and a half uphill (much easier said than done) to the “old part” of town. Faeth and I did that the afternoon we arrived. Besides the arch, we saw an old Arabic gateway and the ruins of Roman walls. We might not have made it to Hadrian’s Wall, but we finally got to see some Roman architecture anyway!

It's a pretty big arch!

We also visited the castle of Medinaceli, where the Dukes of Medinaceli lived until moving into the Ducal Palace (Palacio Ducal). The castle was in ruins now, but if you were willing to climb over piles of stones and push through weeds, you could go up to the crumbling building and peer over its walls. Here's an odd side-note: part of the castle's interior had been converted into a funeral home. I know, weird...

Can't you just imagine El Cid surveying the Spanish countryside from that tower?

 

The Ducal Palace, meanwhile, has since been converted into an art museum. For only 2 euro each, we were able to wander modern art exhibits, some of which were very thought-provoking. There was a special collection of photographs when we visited, revolving around the ideas of distance and time.

Faeth converts this exhibit into "living art"

 

Perhaps the best part of the museum, though, was the Roman mosaic that had been rescued and restored. It was a giant picture of animals, composed of thousands of tiny mosaic pieces. The restoration had taken years and was still not completed, but the mosaic was still impressive nevertheless.

Can you imagine how long it must have taken to create that?

We stayed in Medinaceli for two days. The second day, we tried to walk “El Camino del Cid” (The walkway of el Cid), named after Spain’s famous champion. El Cid was a Castilian nobleman in the 1000s who helped drive the Moors out of Spain. He’s one of Spain’s greatest heroes. Unfortunately, his “camino” was more of a scenic highway now, so we couldn’t safely explore it. We did get to see some of it the day we left, though, since our taxi took the route for some time. We had hoped to take the Alsa bus onwards to the next stop, but the bus only dropped people off at Medinaceli; you couldn’t board it. The same thing happened with the train. We were a little worried at first, wondering if we’d gotten ourselves stuck in the middle of nowhere, but the hotel staff helped us get a taxi and get on our way. While it was more expensive, the scenery almost made it worth it: harsh cliff faces, vivid red dirt, twisting forests. It felt like we were in the Wild West all of a sudden. Spain is full of stark, contrasting scenery. That’s one of the things I love most about this country: one hour you’re at the beach, the next you’re in a desert (á la Medinaceli).

The town sure had some pretty scenery

I’m glad Faeth managed to stumble across this little truck-stop town. It felt like a glimpse into a more authentic side of Spain, simpler and more laid-back than the glossy modern cities. We tried home-cooked Spanish food at a restaurant near the diner. We bought delicious donuts from the tiny town bakery. We got to wander an ancient town that marked the border between Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moors a thousand years ago, long before Isabel and Ferdinand pushed the invaders out of their country. It was really interesting to see ruins of Christian buildings, Muslim buildings and Jewish buildings. These cultures all clashed, yet the town came out richer for having a history that included all three. And we came out richer for leaving cities packed with tourists and finding our way to this tiny, undiscovered gem. There is more to a country than its big-name cities. Sometimes, you’ve got to look beyond the famous sites if you really want to understand a country and its people. It may take some effort, but you’ll be glad you did!