From Valéncia (both the city and the state) it was off to Aragon, another of Spain’s 17 “autonomous communities” or effectively states. This one, though, has special appeal based on its history. Back in 1469 when King Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella of Castile, they united two of the ancient Spanish kingdoms to form the nucleus of what would become modern Spain.

You’ve probably heard of Ferdinand & Isabella, the royals who sponsored Christopher Columbus. Interestingly, though, they probably thought 1492 was an important year for a very different reason: it was the year they finally defeated the Moors of Granada, the last of the Moslem rulers in Spain thus completing the Christian reconquest. And if that wasn’t enough for one year it was also the year when, needing money to finance all this exploration and conquest, they expelled the Jews from Spain.

It’s worth noting that Ferdinand & Isabella had some pretty important descendants as well. Their daughter Catherine – Catherine of Aragon as she was known – was Henry VIII’s first wife. You know that story. When Henry tired of her he tried to get an annulment from the Pope (she’d briefly been married to Henry’s late brother, though she claimed that marriage had never been consummated). And when that failed Henry broke from the Roman Catholic Church. Kind of a big story.

Meanwhile their grandson Charles I succeeded Ferdinand and, because he was the first king to rule Aragon and Castile in his own right (Ferdinand ruled it because of his marriage), he is often described as the first Spanish king. He also inherited the Habsburg holdings and became the Holy Roman Emperor where he was Charles V. As his holdings expanded – Naples, Sicily, Navarre, the Netherlands, much of the New World – they were the first to be described as the empire “on which the sun never sets.”

In other words, Aragon was a big deal.

The first stop was Teruel a nice little city of about 35,000 people some 90 miles northwest of Valencia. Teruel’s big claim to fame is the stunning Mudéjar architecture. What the hell is that, I wondered. Well, mudéjar is the name given to the Spanish Moslems who remained in Spain, without converting, after the reconquest. The architectural result is a beautiful blend of Spanish and Islamic artistry in many of the buildings that remain from the Middle Ages and later; collectively, the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We spent two days in Teruel and I quite enjoyed it. The number of things to do there is pretty limited; the Cathedral takes 15 minutes to see, there’s a tower to climb and a small museum to enjoy. For me there were two things about Teruel that I loved: admiring the unique architecture and long walks in the country. As such a small town it was easy to get out of town quickly and just walk (or run, in the morning) along very quiet roads. At one point, looking at Google Maps I realized that the two little streams that flowed together where I was walking along was the very start of the Turia River, the river that had been rerouted down in Valencia. Down there it was a big, dangerous river but up here it was a tiny stream.

Unfortunately Mark doesn’t like long country walks as much, so he wasn’t quite as keen on Teruel as I was. I’m sure he would say that he liked it, but not as much as I did. And all that wasn’t helped when we discovered that the two restaurants we identified in TripAdvisor as the places we would like to eat were both closed on both days we were there. Terrible.

Then it was a short bus ride just 25 miles or so to the tiny town of Albarracín, population 1,100. The attraction here is mostly the town itself and the old buildings lining the meandering streets. The town exists on a steep outcrop above a valley carved out by the River Guadalaviar, with ancient walls and a tower protecting it from invasion. Well, sort of protecting it. Though Albarracín was an independent kingdom for most of the 13th century, it was eventually defeated by and incorporated into Aragon.

There’s one sort of corny, overhyped legend from the town of a rich 13th century girl who fell for a poor 13th century boy. Her father refused his request for her hand as he was poor, so he joined the military to make his fortune with a promise that she would wait five years for his return. His military career was apparently more successful than mine, since just more than five years later he returned a wealthy young man. Unfortunately her father had married her off by then and, when she refused him just one kiss, he died of a broken heart. When she went to his funeral the next day she collapsed on his coffin, kissed his corpse, and proceeded to die as well. True or not (not), the story is a big deal in Albarracín and there’s a museum and statues and all sorts of references to it around town.

Otherwise there really wasn’t much to do in Albarracín except those long country walks that I love. Most of the modest sites in town – a castle, a cathedral, a museum – require you to tour with a guide and we pretty much hate touring with guides. So we just hung out. And oddly, though there are a number of restaurants in the city, they were almost all closed the entire two days we were there. No signs indicating days or hours just … closed up tight.

The other strange thing about Albarracín was the weather. The first day was just fine but the second – holy cow. Cold and overcast. Then a cold rain. Then, just as we were heading home after lunch, a hail storm. The rest of the afternoon was bizarre. Big thunderstorms then sunshine followed by rain, more thunder, more sunshine, more rain. And on and on.

OK, four days was enough to experience small-town Aragon. Next stop Zaragoza, Aragon’s capital.

Coming to a new place like this you never know what you’re going to find. In this case, we absolutely loved València. Loved it, as in could almost imagine living there some day. Great architecture, great food, an incredible park, perfect weather, access to the Mediterranean, and all at a fraction of the cost of, say, Paris, where we’d just come from.

Part of why it was so perfect had to be the season. The mornings would start cool and then temperatures would climb through the 70s through the early afternoon. This must be just about the perfect time to be here; I can imagine that in July it would get a little hot. But mid-May? Perfect early summer weather, especially after all the cool rain we had in Paris and even Japan.

València is Spain’s third-biggest city after and capital of the “autonomous community” – essentially a state – of València, the latter about the size of New Jersey. From my perspective there are two important dates in València’s history. The first was in 138 BC when it was founded by Roman soldiers who’d been pensioned off. After that a lot of stuff happened and it was even the Spanish republican capital in 1936 and 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. When Franco then defeated the republicans, València was punished under his rule.

The next big date (again, this is a very personal history) was in 1957 when the Rio Turia, which runs through ran through the city, flooded. Again. This time the city leaders decided they’d had enough and chose to move the river. Seriously. At the western end of the city, where the river once entered, they diverted it and sent it southward more directly to the Mediterranean and avoiding the city.

The cool thing about that project is that what was once the riverbed running through València is now a remarkable green space consisting of a huge variety of soccer fields, running tracks, bike trails, basketball courts, exercise stations, walking trails and on and on. Traffic moves above the parkway on bridges constructed long before the diversion project (some dating back several hundred years) making it one of the most amazing public green spaces I’ve ever seen. And on top of all that, near the end of the parkway, what used to be down river, local-boy-made-good international architectural star Santiago Calatrava designed the City of Arts and Sciences. This is a modern architectural fantasy land with museums and opera halls, walkways and water features, an IMAX theater, an oceanographic aquarium, and perhaps the most beautiful bridge I’ve ever seen. The whole thing has cost more than three times its original estimate (shades of Boston’s Big Dig), but if you weren’t paying Valèncian taxes it is stunning.

And so once again, after years of travel all over the world, we discover something we’ve never seen before: a massive public park built into an old riverbed. It got me wondering why other cities don’t think of this. Paris could move the Seine, or Minneapolis could divert the Mississippi, and *boom!* great opportunities for parkland. OK, maybe that’s not likely, but in València it worked pretty well.

That was València. A gorgeous and atmospheric old city surrounded by ancient towers that once formed parts of the city walls. A beautiful 15th century silk trading house that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Beautiful 19th century Spanish architecture along with some stunning modern buildings. A nice free art museum – my favorite entrance fee – great tapas, and in case I didn’t mention it, perfect weather.

We like Spain!