Huesca, chief town of its province and the see of a bishop, lies on the slopes of a hill above the Río Isuela. A typical Pyrenean town, it is an important market center for the agricultural produce of the surrounding area.
History
The Iberian settlement of Osca became the Roman Urbs Victrix Osca, headquarters in the first century B.C. of the rebel Quintus Sertorius, a supporter of Marius, who was able to maintain his independence of Rome for almost ten years. After the expulsion of the Moors by Pedro I Huesca was capital of Aragon from 1096 to 1118. In the Napoleonic period the town was occupied by French troops, and during the Spanish Civil War there were two years of bitter fighting for control of the town.
The Museo Episcopal of Huesca, in the chapterhouse, displays Romanesque and Gothic wall paintings, reliquaries, book illuminations and an alabaster group by Damián Forment, ''Adoration of the Kings''.
In the parish church of Huesca is the famous alabaster Retablo de Monte Aragón, a masterpiece by Gil Morlanes (1495) which was originally in the fortified monastery of Monte Aragón.
In the Mercado Nuevo, to the south of the cathedral, is the church of San Pedro el Viejo, one of the oldest Romanesque churches in the region, built in the 12th century on the remains of a Benedictine abbey, with a hexagonal tower. In the tympanum of the main doorway is a representation of the Three Kings. In the Capilla de San Bartolomé are the tombs of Ramiro II and Alfonso I of Aragon. The Romanesque cloister has finely carved capitals.
Address: San Pedro el Viejo, Mercado Nuevo, E-22001 Huesca, Spain
Opposite the Huesca Cathedral is the 16th century Casa Consistorial, with a Renaissance facade. On the first floor is a gruesome representation of the "Bell of Huesca".
C 138 runs down to the charming village of Ainsa, once capital of the petty kingdom of Sobrarbe, with a 12th century collegiate church, an imposing ruined castle and the remains of a ninth Century monastery.
Ainsa Castle seen through a doorway.
Address: Ainsa Tourist Office, Avenida Pirenaica 1, E-22330 Ainsa, Spain
Sitting on a hilltop, Alquézar is a charming maize of streets dominated by collegiate church. It was first named Alcázar when built by the Moors in the late 11th and early 12th century. Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragón captured the town. The Colegiata was then rebuilt as a church in 1530.
After passing through El Grado and Naval (ruined castle) the road climbs to the Alto del Pino (857m/2812ft), from which there is a view (below, to the right) of the Embalse de Mediano.
From Huesca, N 240 runs northwest over the fertile plain of La Hoya and then climbs, with many bends and fine views of the Pyrenees to the right, on to the Meseta, and comes to the little town of Ayerbe (alt. 560m/1837ft), with the 15th century Palacio de los Marqueses de Ayerbe.
From Huesca N 240 leads east to Barbastro (51km/32mi), beyond which we turn left into C 138, a narrow and winding road which heads north up the valley of the Río Cinca.
At Ainsa C 138 turns west and comes to Boltaña, a pretty little town in the valley of the Río Ara. It then continues up the valley, with the Sierra de Bolave on the right. Beyond Brotó it runs into the road coming from Biescas, which it follows north to the Parque Nacional de Ordesa.
Beyond Ayerbe, N 240 crosses the Río Gállego and traverses a gorge-like valley, with the mighty crags of the Mallos de Riglos on the right, followed by the Embalse de la Peña.
2km/1.25mi southwest of Huesca on N 123, above the road on the right, is the Santuario de San Jorge, built in 1554 on the remains of earlier walls on the site of the battle of Alcoraz (in which Pedro I of Aragon defeated the Moors in 1096). From here there is a fine view of Huesca.
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