We decided to head north for a break in June 2022, so planned the trip with some stopovers to ensure that there wasn’t too much driving each day.
First stop was at Teruel where we’ve been twice before but thought it was a good place to break the journey. We detoured very slightly en route to visit a couple of towns we’d read about and considered visiting before – the strangely named Rubielos de Mora and Mora de Rubielos.
Rubielos de Moras actually features in the ‘Pueblos mas bonitos de Espana’ and it was nice to stroll along the narrow streets with medieval buildings.
Mora de Rubielos is a larger town with a castle. We didn’t visit it, as this was just a quick stopover and we had planned to visit other castles on our trip, but again the town was nice to stroll around. We had a nice but over-priced lunch in a little local bar across from the town hall. To summarise, both towns were nice enough, but nothing special to make us want to visit either of them again.
We didn’t have anything particular to do in Teruel, having already seen the sights such as the cathedral and Los Amantes. We stayed in the same hotel we’d stayed in before, a small family run hotel El Mudayyan.
We always like to try different hotels when we visit somewhere we’ve been before. Being in a slightly different location for example can give you a different perspective on a place, and it’s nice to try somewhere different. However, this hotel is exceedingly good value and is in a great location, very central and also close to the free parking down by the Renfe station. If you park there, unless you don’t have luggage and/or feel super fit, be sure to use the lift at the back to the left of the steps, as it’s quite a climb if you don’t! The rooms are very stylish and have a fridge which is always a plus. We had no complaints about the hotel, only one negative point was that the staff/family weren’t very friendly this time and we’d always found them so friendly before. Anyway, we’d happily stay there again. Click here to visit the hotel’s own website and here to reserve a room, check out reviews, photos etc.
We had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to eat at night, partly because many restaurants close on a Monday. It wasn’t helped by the selection on almost every menu of things such as fried pigs ears, pig’s snout, pigs trotters, tripe, young eels…. not too appealing. We eventually settled on Tapas & Copas on Paseo de Óvalo where we shared some huevos rotos with very nice jamon (Teruel is famous for it’s ham) and grilled vegetables. It also helped that they had our favourite cava, Anna de Codornui Blanc de Blancs!
Our next stop was Olite which is somewhere that has been on the radar for a while. It’s in the wine area of Navarre and has a beautiful castle. The castle, also known as The Royal Palace, was beautifully restored in 1937 after a fire which took place during the War of Independence. We were also lucky to spot a huge stork and its young, nesting on a large chimney pot just opposite one of the castle towers. The main part of the castle is open to the public and you can stroll round on your own or book a guided tour. The other part is now a Parador Hotel. The Church of Santa María la Real is also joined to the castle and can be visited for a small fee.
We stayed at B&B Atalya which is in a great location across from the church and Parador and just round the corner from the castle. It was clean, comfortable accommodation and great value for money. Breakfast was included and was very nice – coffee, OJ, a piece of fruit, tostada with tomato, ham & cheese or jam, croissant and sweet pastry. The guy who served us was the friendliest we’d met in our day in Olite. The other staff in the hotel were also nice, but others in the town weren’t very friendly for some reason!
We also had a problem finding somewhere to eat as the place we’d chosen showed that it was open but wasn’t! We sat in a bar along the road watching other would-be customers of the restaurant looking confused as to why it was closed! Anyway, to cut a long story short we landed up going to the Parador cafeteria where we had a snack-type meal that was OK but not worth discussing in detail. Lunch had also been disappointing at Restaurante Ducay where the lettuce in our salad was anything but fresh (I would have binned it) and they gave us the wrong type of baguette with a strong smelly cheese that we had to wipe off the bread but the taste still overpowered everything else!
Next stop was the medieval town of Aínsa which is in Huesca, close to the French border and a gateway to the Pyreneese. It’s also another of the ‘Pueblos más Bonitos de España‘. You can climb up from the new part of town to the old town where Plaza Mayor is situated with several bar/restaurants and the castle ruins. You can climb a few steps and walk around the castle walls for some nice views of the countryside and the square. There are some longer walks you can do including one to the Viewpoint where the views are even better.
After the walk it’s worth visiting the Eco Museum where you hear about how they are working to save wildlife in the area including Bearded Vultures and Owls which were being cared for because they can no longer survive in the wild. The vultures had broken wings due to flying into electric cables and they were trying to get them to mate. The small fee to enter the museum goes towards conservation. As well as viewing the animals in the ‘hospital’, there is a small exhibition, a film with subtitles in various languages and a gift shop.
We stayed at the Dos Rios (they have apartment, hotel and hostal rooms all within the same building) and found it very good. They have a bar/restaurant where we had a snack lunch and a very nice breakfast which was included in our room rate. The location is excellent and there is free parking just behind the hotel (payment of around 3 euros in July & August).
At night we had a very nice meal at Ordesa 88 just along from our hotel. The salmoreja with watermelon was spectacular!
After Ainsa we headed to the eastern coast to Cambrils and had a lovely drive along a beautiful blue lake where we stopped to take photos. Cambrils itself was a bit of a disappointment. We found it a bit tacky, lots of cheap gift shops and restaurants with photos of their dishes (never a good thing!). It didn’t help that a lot of the town down towards the sea front was being dug up and we didn’t understand why they didn’t finish one bit before starting another. Anyway, we’re not likely to return to Cambrils which is a shame because we found a really nice Thai restaurant, Prik Thai, which actually had Khao Soi (my favourite dish from Chiang Mai) on the menu – the first time we’ve seen it anywhere outside Thailand. Very tasty it was too, as was the Thai red chicken curry.
In Cambrils we stayed at Hotel Marinada, a friendly family-run hotel near the old town and about 10 minutes walk from the beach.
The last stop on our trip was Vilafames, a pretty village that we visited before. En route we stopped at Vinaros which had a nice feel to it, much nicer than Cambrils. We had a nice snack lunch at Café Mozart followed by a relaxed walk. The last 2 photos of the gallery above were taken in Vinaros.
Vilafames was as we remembered it. It’s a very photogenic town with a castle at the top of the hill, and pink-red rock walls and stonework. One of the reasons we decided to finish our trip there was so we could return to La Vinya, a restaurant where we had a really delicious meal in 2017. Imagine how disappointed we were when we saw that it was closed! Their Facebook page showed (and still shows) that they open at 8.30pm on Friday so it was very frustrating. If you’re going to Vilafames and want to eat there, we’d recommend that you contact them ahead to check that they’ll be open and to book.
Anyway, all wasn’t lost. We decided to eat at El Rullo, the restaurant of the hotel we were staying at, and had a very nice meal including the most tender, juicy, delicious fillet steak from Galicia. The hotel is the sister hotel of the place we stayed last time, L’Antiq Portal and check-in/out and breakfast took place there.
