Driving the A-1507 from Berdejo around the castle's
hill we enter the village of Bijuesca. The river Manubles is at our right, after the summer season
the water level is rather low. Trout fishing is popular over here.
Parking the car for a walk to the castle
After parking the car at the square it is time for a walk
to the castle of Bijuesca.
The population of the village is very small, decreasing
from about 1.000 residents in the 19th century to 145 residents in 1995 (see
The Official Bijuesca page).
Many houses were deserted in the last decades. This decrease of population in the small villages is a
problem appearing all over the province of Zaragoza and beyond. The Mayor of the village, the Alcalde
Ángel-Millán Marín Rubio, recently has initiated a program to revitalize the village. By offering
houses and properties at low prices the village tries to attract people from the economic more
prosperous provincies in the north to settle in Bijuesca, or to build a second home for the summer
holidays. Our friends Carmen and Cristina are among the new settlers, building their holiday cottage at
this moment.
Renovation of a house
All over the village houses are rebuilt or repaired.
An old fortified building
At the way upward at the left an old fortified building
(possibly 15th century, it could be a church of a monastry). It has beautiful stone walls.
The road to the castle gets smaller
After some climbing the road gets smaller. Behind the
house at the right a property is for sale, as the signboard shows.
The tall Moorish castle of Bijuesca shows up
Climbing somewhat further the tall Moorish castle of
Bijuesca shows up in front between the houses. This is an impressive view of the strategic location.
How many stones must have been carried the way uphill to build such a vaste fortress ? And who did the
work, probably the captured christians of the 8th century. During our visit next August it is interresting
to gather more information on the history of the Islamic fortresses in the region. I assume the emir Ayyub
of Calatayud had ordered to build most of these castles.
A look at a property for sale near the castle
Carmen wrote she would like it a lot if Ans and I acquired
some property in Bijuesca too. Last year in July 1997, when we visited her and Cristina at Behobie, she told
of her plans, showing us the design of her holiday cottage (a nicely designed house by her sister, who
is an architect). A friend of hers, who is a contractor and lives in Bijuesca, is building the house at
the moment. We are very curious about the progress of the work. We'll see, be prepared to find the results
of our findings and lots of picures on this page next September.
The same property with a look on the parochial church and the castle
at the upper right corner
This is really a beautiful location with a view on the
parochial church and the castle in the hill. We don't have any plans to buy, but things may change
(depending on our experiences, the climate, the prices and so on, but who knows). We will stay with
an other friend of Carmen from San Sebastian, who has already a house in the village. We know already
that the wine of the region is delicious, Carmen gave us some bottles last year.
The parochial church uphills is reached
This is not yet the top of the hill at the castle, but the
look back to Bijuesca is beautiful. Actually this same picture is used in the next panorama. The altitude
of Bijuesca is 900 m (2300 feet) above sealevel, so it is not so very hot over here as it is in most
parts of Spain. At the south side of the Mont Caya moutains the cold winds fom the north and the rain
is hold back, so even in winter the temperatures fall seldomly below zero degrees centigrade. As we were
told by Carmen the climate is very nice, especially for her at Behobia and for us in Holland, were rain
and mist is a rather regular experience, and hot summers are with high humidity levels (BTW: how is
Florida in this aspect?)
A panorama of Bijuesca from the square in front of the church
Tthis is the view from the square in front of the Joop made several fotos, but I glued them together on the computer. So
even Joop didn't see this picture before. It is more than 90 degrees. At the right the hills in the west,
from where the next picture was taken.
A view at Bijuesca from the hills at the west
This is the official poster, the province of Zaragoza has
printed to promote the village of Bijuesca. It shows clearly how large the village is inrespect to its
small population.
Deserted houses in a very bad shape
Dear guests, I am afraid this is all for now. You may have
the impression I was in Bijuesca already. This is not the case, but within a few weeks Ans and I will be
visiting it on our tour to Spain 1998. First we will have a stop at Bourgundy, France to visit special friends
of our 1974 Spain tour (as we call it a 'Landdag' a reunions day) with lots of music, wine and stories.
Next we will visit Mas Nou, close to Barcelona in the north of Spain (Catalonia) and finally Bijuesca.
Stay tuned and visit this site in September to discover the stories and pictures of our voyage.
