Santa Bárbara Castle (La Fresneda)

Arrive in La Fresneda, look up, and there on top of the hill rising above the village you'll see what is left of Santa Bárbara Castle. Don't come expecting an intact fortress: only a few remains survive today. That is precisely why a visit is something of an exercise in imagination, piecing together in your mind's eye what was once a defensive stronghold in the heart of the Matarraña, a district in the province of Teruel.

This was a medieval castle linked to the Order of Calatrava, one of the military orders with a presence in these lands of Teruel. That name alone says a great deal about the role the site played: it was no mere watchtower, but a possession of an institution that combined the religious and the military in the Middle Ages.

Nor was the choice of location a matter of chance. Set on the summit of the hill, the castle occupied the highest point above the village, a position from which the surrounding area could be watched over and which still explains the relationship between the fortress and the village spreading out below it. Climbing up there is the best way to grasp that medieval logic of controlling the territory.

A visit to the castle remains fits nicely into a leisurely stroll around La Fresneda. Rather than looking for great walls, it's worth pausing to take in the place itself, its height and its silence, and letting the history of the Order of Calatrava do the rest. It's a simple stop, but a rewarding one for anyone who enjoys uncovering the subtle traces of the past in the villages of the Matarraña.