Tarazona

October 1, 2023

Tudela

It’s been too hot on either of the last two afternoons for me to have any real interest in exploring any of Tudela beyond the plaza outside our door; and besides, we stayed in Tudela six years go so it feels like I’ve already had a look so I’m not that motivated. Not that I remember anything from the last time though.

We’ve got a short day today though, maybe the easier set of the tour, so there’s time this morning to explore before we leave. Right after breakfast I head out, planning at least to walk the few blocks over to the cathedral. First though, I stop to take in the unexpected sight of the moon just setting to the west. I’d forgotten to watch for this, the last super moon of the year. I’m a day late to see it when it was actually full, or maybe two days. Still pretty super though and worth pausing to admire.

I keep forgetting to watch for the full moon, which just peaked a day or two ago. I’m just lucky to see it over the plaza when I step out this morning, and lucky to catch a flock of pigeons crossing it.

Shine on, shine on Harvest Moon, up in the sky!

I have a general sense of which direction the cathedral is even though I can’t see it so I just start walking, confident I’ll see a spire jutting up soon. And I’m right. Two blocks later I see an impressive religious structure rising above the apartments. I find the best angle, take a shot, and then realize it’s not the cathedral.

So I look around and see another candidate nearby, but that’s not it either.

The Iglesias de la Campania de Maria. Very nice, but not the cathedral.

The Colegiata de la San Francisco Javier. This isn’t it either.

So as a last resort I fall back on the scientific method and pull out the phone to consult a map, and a few blocks on I finally come to the real cathedral’s portal - or at least the narrow slice of it that’s visible down at the end of the alley facing it. I make a circuit, find a vantage point for a better shot, discover that it’s not open yet, and call it good. Mission accomplished!

They haven’t done the best job on preserving sight lines for the cathedral.

It took me awhile to find the cathedral, even though I’m only a few blocks away.

Today’s ride

It’s only fifteen miles to Tarazona so there’s no real hurry. We know we want to arrive before two so we can check in at our hostal before the lobby closes for the afternoon, and of course we’ll want to find a Menu del Dia somewhere nearby. There’s no rush though, and we aren’t out the door until maybe 10:30. It’s another clear day, one that will be borderline hot by early afternoon again but is still quite pleasant when we start biking.

It feels like we’re at a real transition point as we bike southwest, gently climbing as we leave the Ebro behind. It’s a new month, we’re entering the new region of Aragon, and ahead is a different, more rugged landscape. Today’s ride and destination are familiar though, because six years ago we overnighted in Tarazona and then Tudela the next night, riding today’s stage in reverse. It was a very easy cruise then, really just a rest day, but today it’s a hill climb as it rises relentlessly for the next fifteen miles at a steady 1%. It’s Sunday, and we pass many bicyclists out, virtually all of them going the other way careening downhill, the lucky dogs.

Leaving Tudela. Ahead is the Moncayo Range, but we’re not really heading that way. We’ll bend to the right in a few miles and follow a lower route south behind it.

There’s a paved bike route that connects the two cities. We’ll follow it for the first half of the ride, leaving it somewhere along the way for no obvious reason.

Ablitas is a few miles ahead yet. We’ll turn right there and skirt around the right side of that low ridge behind it.

New region! Aragon is the fourth of the five we’ll pass through on this tour, after the Basque Country, La Rioja and Navarra.

Another look at the Moncayo Range, which we’ve been seeing in the distance ever since leaving Olite.

We should start seeing some real color in the hills soon.

Video sound track: Tarazona, by Pablo Revere y Los Asaltantes

We arrive at our hostal around 12:30 and are happy to learn that a room is ready, as long as we’re OK with two single beds shoved next to each other. We’ve booked for a matrimonial, but that room hasn’t been serviced yet. I check with Rachael who’s outside watching the bikes to confirm that’s OK, and she wonders if it’s really necessary to have them shoved together. Nice way to talk, Rocky!

Our hostess speaks no English at all, but she communicates instructions to us by typing them into her laptop and showing me the translation. She has one point to strongly emphasize - Muy importante! - we are not to drink the tap water, because it’s contaminated. Rachael will later research this and find an article describing the issue. The local water supply is contaminated with Cryptosporidium, and hundreds have been sickened in the last two days. So that’s concerning.

At one o’clock we’re back on the street and checking out restaurants. We find the one that looks best but they won’t open for a half hour so we cross the small river that runs through town to the shady side of the street looking for a bench to sit in the shade while we wait. Suddenly I look up and am stunned to see a bird cloud swirling above the heights on the other side. There must be at least fifty of them. Huge birds, Griffon vultures I’m thinking because they have white on them and I’ve seen them congregate like this before.

I shout and point to them for Rachael to look and then pull out the camera, open the zoom full out, and aim in the right direction without even focusing hoping I’ll pick something up before they disappear. I’m just in time.

Storks! I’ve just caught fourteen of them before they disappear behind the church. The whole group was much larger, easily more than fifty birds. They must be gathered for migration.

So given that, we’re really grateful that the restaurant doesn’t open until 1:30 because we’d have never seen this otherwise. And lunch is fine, in a classy, Michelin-cited restaurant. We’re seated upstairs, and as usual the place is empty when we are seated and full when we leave. Salads are great, I enjoy my cheese/sausage/chanterelle empanada and Rachael her large whole sea bass that it takes her five minutes to debone, but her bland rice mousse is a disappointment.

Afterwards we head back to the now unattended hotel and take a few minutes to nose around before retreating to our rooms for a few hours to wait out the hottest part of the day. It’s an interesting place, more or less a shrine with its walls lined with photos, drawings and newspaper clippings of Raquel Meller, a Spanish film actress I’d never heard of who began her career in the silent era. She was born in Tarazona though not in this building as far as I can tell, but there must be some connection with the owners.

After a couple of hours we both go out again, Rachael for a hike to a nearby lake and I to check out the cathedral since I’m old, my memory stinks, and I’ve forgotten that I saw it just six years ago. But that’s content for its own post.

The Hostal Santa Agueda is a virtual shrine to the Spanish actress Raquel Meller.

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Ride stats today: 15 miles, 900’; for the tour: 791 miles, 23,300’

Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 781 miles (1,257 km)

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