Mora de Rubielos vs. Rubielos de Mora. So confusing. Is there anywhere else where two neighboring towns are named like this? And how did they decide? Did the civic leaders get together and flip coins to decide who got which name? If anyone knows the background on this I’d love to know.
And if you’re coming this way, how do you decide which to stay at? From the tourism literature they both look worth a look, but as they’re only eight miles apart it doesn’t make too much sense to stay at both. When we stayed in Albarracín our host said both were nice but one was especially fine. I couldn’t remember which one it was after we left though, and in any case we were already booked in Mora (for convenience sake I’m going to call them by their first names only, Mora and Rubielos, which is what I think the natives do).
Well, you’re in luck. Just for you, we’ve decided to change our booking and stay tomorrow night in Rubielos so we can give you a good look at both towns so you can make educated travel plans. The fact that it’s supposed to rain tomorrow and we’d rather bike only eight miles rather than 35 in the rain was only a secondary consideration, I can assure you.
So first Mora of course, since that’s where we are now. We’ll hope to get lucky with tomorrow’s weather and get a decent break to explore Rubielos in too, but we’ll wait and see.
From what we saw here though, Mora is a tough act to follow - especially with us getting to see it with some sun breaking through to highlight its attractions. Rubielos has its work cut out for it, that’s for sure.
In the historical center. Mora is a small place and looks smaller on the map than Rubielos, though with its 1,700 population it’s twice as large as its neighbor.
I liked this shot for the shadow of the flags on the white house below. It was startling at first to notice the shadows fluttering out of the corner of my eye.
Remains of the outer line of fortifications built after the town was reconquered from the muslims in the 12th century by Alfonso II. From what I’ve seen since, I should have walked up there to explore them and look down on the town.
I took this shot of the towers from the balcony of our room. You’d think it might have occurred to me from this that a good sunset might be developing. Good thing Rachael tipped me off before it was too late.
