Alcalá De Gurrea: Churches, Dam and Birdwatching

The Iglesia Parroquial de San Jorge is classified as listed cultural heritage of Aragon. When looking for a holiday apartment in Alcalá De Gurrea, you can compare travel dates, room categories and cancellation policies on the accommodation listings. These three details help you sort different accommodations according to your own travel conditions.

Culture

The Iglesia Parroquial de San Jorge has a Latin-cross floor plan with a straight-ended chancel, transept and single-nave body with six bays. There is a raised gallery at the rear. Its tower is built of brick, has a square floor plan, consists of three sections and ends in an octagonal upper part with a roof turret. Beneath the chancel is the Museo Diocesano, with several sacred artworks and various liturgical religious objects.

The Ermita de Nuestra Señora de los Agudos is a small late Romanesque building. It was built in the first half of the 13th century on a hill surrounded by grain fields near the Pantano de la Sotonera and is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural.

The Castillo de Alcalá de Gurrea stood on the hill whose summit is now crowned by the church; it may have been of Arab origin. The Cuevas vivienda are ethnological structures distributed along several streets on the hill crowned by the Iglesia Parroquial de San Jorge. They provided accommodation and living space for the poorest workers at the Pantano de La Sotonera Dam. The Iglesia Parroquial de San José Obrero stands in the Colonia de Tormos. The settlement belonging to Alcalá de Gurrea was intended to house the workers of the La Sotonera Dam and their families.

A local tradition associated with the Virgen de Astón is a novena that begins about nine days before the festival and asks for rain for the fields.

Other places: Ibieca, Arto, Sipán, Víu, Coscojuela De Sobrarbe, Salillas, Estada, Castilsabás.

Landscape

La Atalaya in Tormos, within the municipality of Alcalá de Gurrea, is a watchtower protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural. As a defensive tower, it stands on the northwestern edge of the Saso Plano plateau and overlooks the La Sotonera plain. To visit it, you must leave your car on the road below the tower and climb the hill to the summit on foot.

Fontaneta is an ethnological spring in the Huertas area near the Sotón River and has a communal stone washhouse. The Fuente de Las Pilas is also located near the Sotón River. Its several basins were formerly used as watering troughs for working animals and people.

The Fuente de la Culebra is located in the pine forest at the Pantano de La Sotonera Dam and is used as a well-signposted, easily accessible recreational area.

Nature and Festivals

Alcalá de Gurrea is part of the La Sotonera ornithological route, which was specifically created for bird lovers. A small viewpoint in the upper part of Alcalá de Gurrea looks out over the La Violada plains and is suitable for birdwatching. The route and the viewpoint offer different experiences: a themed trail and a single vantage point over the landscape.

In Alcalá de Gurrea, the festival in honour of the Virgen de Astón is celebrated on 8 May. The festival in honour of San Bartolomé follows on 24 August.

For the main travel overview: Huesca.