Algarra

A stone village on the heights

Algarra lies at the eastern end of the province, in the Serranía Baja, almost on the Teruel boundary. It is a mountain village: stone houses and narrow streets following the slope, with pine forests and steep terrain around it. The Turia is nearby, and the mountains of Teruel can be seen from above. Over the village are the remains of the medieval castle, and in its centre the church of La Asunción. Winters are long and cold.

La Peligrosa

The houses cling to a spur of Cerro Santo at about 1,280 metres, shaped like a ship’s keel. Above are the remains of the castle, once called «La Peligrosa» (The Dangerous One); some derive the village’s name from this, though the etymology is unclear. It depended on the marquisate of Moya, hence its other name, «el balcón del Marquesado» (the balcony of the marquisate). Albarracín and Requena coveted its castle; supporters of the Habsburg claimant occupied it in the early 18th century, and in 1873 the Carlist Brigadier Santés, pursued after taking Cuenca, held it for a few days before fleeing towards Chelva.

In 1601 the Inquisition arrested a villager, Miguel Saiz, accused of practising Islam; he was acquitted for lack of evidence. In the post-war years Algarra’s hills were maquis territory.

Ánimas, kaolin and the Virgen de Santerón

In Algarra people ate migas on the night of Ánimas, fried breadcrumbs on the night of the souls in purgatory, and had to make sure some were left: these were used to block the street-door locks so the souls could not enter the house. In the hills remain the settling ponds where kaolin from the old quarry was washed, beside dunes of white sand, and ammonites and belemnites appear in the Barranco del Tamaral.

The municipality contains the hermitage of the Virgen de Santerón, a seated Romanesque carving with the Child on her left knee, beneath a Mudéjar coffered ceiling. Every seven years since 1718, the pilgrimage from Vallanca in the Rincón de Ademuz has come here: people from Castile, Valencia and Aragon at the same celebration, to the sound of the kettledrum and dulzaina, a traditional shawm.

Before the castle: the Iberians

Three unexcavated Iberian-period settlements have been identified through surface survey on the municipality’s hills; the Cerro Viejo entry gathers them with the rest of the basin:

• La Cunázara, on an isolated hill, enclosed by three stretches of wall, perhaps a territorial control post.
• La Borrega, on a hillside.
• Site no. 3, a different hill from the village castle, with medieval remains.

Plan your visit

See Algarra slowly and on foot: the centre and church. The castle is a ruin and the settlements are in the hills, unprepared for visitors.

Before you travel

From November to April frost is almost daily and it may snow. Take warm clothing and ask about road conditions.

Combine with

Casas de Garcimolina is 1.7 km away as the crow flies and Alcalá de la Vega about 8: the three can be linked in a day.