BERLANGA DE DUERO
Chapter 3 Paragraph 5
12 August 2017
Finally arrived ... in the middle of a vintage party! This is how this village welcomes us, the only sign of life in the midst of a very silent landscape. We reach, not without difficulty because of the party, the hotel, recent and really comfortable for the place. Majestic, dominates the town its Castle, a fortress, as it were, fortified. Give me a little history lesson.
The occupation of this area dates back to prehistoric times, with archaeological evidence of the existence of a population in Roman times, in which Berlanga could be known as Valeránica, as reported by the Archbishop of Toledo, Jiménez de Rada, in his chronicle "De Rebus Hispaniae", but still the subject of debate. Berlanga is located geographically in the middle of the border area, between Christian and Muslim kingdoms, and chronologically in the middle of the reconquest. It is in this period of conflict where we find the origins of the medieval castle. The origin is not clear, around the X-XI centuries, and was born as an Islamic fortress, whose remains are not very visible, on the border with the Christian kingdoms. In 1059 Fernando I of Castile, in a rapid military campaign in the Upper Duero, succeeded in subtracting Berlanga from the Muslim hands, bringing the first repair and renovation works of the castle. Border land and corridor towards Aragon (in practice what we have traveled from Zaragoza), passing through the nearby "Eremita de San Baudelio", was disputed by various factions, until it came into possession of the Tovar family that have transformed the whole city of Berlanga, including the castle to which it gave the appearance it has today.. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it lost its military functions, assuming those of prison, archive or arsenal. From the end of the seventeenth century began its decline, including looting and dismantling. The peak of the destruction occurred due to the fire of April 20, 1660, to the point that only its walls remain. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Municipality of Berlanga de Duero acquired the entire complex (castle, walls, palace and gardens), thus beginning the consolidation, restoration and enhancement of this magnificent monument.
We photograph it first in the "Golden Hour", and then under a beautiful "Blue Light", spectacularizing the whole complex: with that sky so clear could not be otherwise, considering that we are almost a thousand meters above sea level.
An atmosphere really nice, fresh at the right point, that make us to forget the heat accumulated during the day. Despite today's tour de force, we still have the energy to spend the evening in the middle of the fiesta.
And with this we close the day, started at 8 o’clock in the morning from Zaragoza, visiting Veruela (Par. 1); Tarazona (Par. 2); the Jurassic Park of Enciso (Par. 3); the ruins of Numancia (Par 4) and end here at Berlanga: 300km stage. Meanwhile, the sky becomes pitch black, fatigue assaults us and the hotel awaits us. See you tomorrow!
