Rivers of Aragon I - Alquézar & River Vero hike

About Alquézar & River Vero hike

This day activity is to explore the village of Alquézar and hike the famous Pasarelas del Vero 13km circular hiking route along the River Vero.

The Arabic name al-Qasr from which the modern Spanish Alquézar derives means a castle, palace, or fortress. The town is named because it was founded around the hilltop Arabic fortress.

It was one of the main fortresses of the Barbitania, protecting access to the Barbastro region. According to Muslim chroniclers, it first belonged to the Banu Jalaf and would be conquered in 893 by Ismail ibn Muza, of the Banu Qasi de Zaragoza, and later taken by al-Tawil. In 938, Abd al-Rahman III named his son Yahia governor of Barbastro and Alquézar. Jalaf ibn Rasid built the fortress at the beginning of the 9th century as a defensive position against the Christian Pyrenean resistance who were reconquering Southern Europe from the Muslims.

Around 1067 it was conquered by the king of Aragon, Sancho Ramírez (son of Ramiro I) and became a Christian fortress Castrum Alqueçaris, to defend against the Muslims, becoming a key point for later stages of the Reconquest. The fortress was equipped with military garrisons assisted by an Augustinian community. In 1099, the church of Santa María was consecrated as a royal chapel.

As the process of the Reconquest advances towards the lowlands of Barbastro and Huesca, Alquézar loses importance as a strategic military fortress and becomes a religious institution and commercial centre of the region, known as the Alquezarense Priory.

The increase in population in the 13th century creates a need to expand the village outside of the castle walls into what is called Burgo Nuovo Alquezaris, leaving the castle practically uninhabited, occupied only by some religious orders.

The town has a medieval appearance that has changed very little since the 13th Century. The layout of the streets is how it was with a winding alleys and streets with small squares where they join. The layout is designed to protect the houses from the sun and wind. It is a typically Muslim layout, with narrow and high streets and can often be found in the older mountain towns. Adapted to the topography with the houses crowded on the hillside.

The village had a defensive design being enclosed, perhaps walled (although no historical evidence of a medieval wall has been found). Access to the village was via three portals, two of which are preserved: the main one, Gothic (13th century), and the other in the lower part of the town. They had doors that were closed at a certain time, not allowing access to the interior of the town.

The paving of the streets was much more rustic than the current one being made of thick stone slabs laid into into the soil, without any type of mortar. The streets had a drainage system, with a slope towards the centre, a channel through which the water would flow.

The population of Alquézar was Christian, but the Mudejars (Muslims in Christian territory) roamed in the region, being the original builders of the majority of the houses. Of the current houses, the oldest date back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Alquézar lived an era of splendour in the 16th century.

The houses integrate perfectly with the surroundings through the use of native materials, such as stone (especially for corners, plinths, window frames and doors), brick, clay bricks. The Mudejar builders introduced the brick technique, more practical than stone, almost of equal resistance and, above all, better known to them. The good use of brick can be seen above all in the upper galleries of arches and in the eaves.

This walking route along the Vero River includes a scenic route through the historic village of Alquézar

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