first impressions deceive

As we drove into Albarracin two days ago, mum said "What a dump".
At the time I had to agree. Nothing but old industrial buildings, service stations and the like on the way into town. Our hotel is also at the bottom of the hill, and until today we hadn't explored into the town.
We followed a rather lazy evening last night with a lazy start. But around lunchtime we though we better make a move, so with hat and camera in hand we set off to explore Albarracin.
The best way to describe this town is that it is one to get lost in. Not in the romantic sense (oh I could get lost in Paris, I just love it), but literally. There are very few streets wide enough for a car, although the odd smart car and tiny Peugot seems to fit. They wind up and down, a staircase here and there. Before you know it you can't work out where you are and whether you've seen that tapas bar before. There were a few more touristy stores here selling some quality and not-so quality items. Kim, Toby and I lost mum and dad early and started out way through the town. There is a quick walk up to the top of the hill where there are some remains of the wall that once enclosed the whole village. But in the midday sun I thought it best to stay in the shade. Kim and Toby were also rather protective of their ice creams. So we weaved our way back through, sometimes coming out on a street only metres from where we got off it in the first place. It didn't take long to realise our first impressions of Albarracin were misguided. It is a beautiful town.

We had the hotel key so decided to head back there and have lunch while we waited for the folks. The afternoon continued with streaming le tour on our laptops. We couldn't be bothered messing around with the kitchen again so we opted for tapas. Since we introduced Kim to them in La Fresneda she has become somewhat of a convert. We again made a fair selection and again had to order seconds...twice. The plaza, which had been quite empty earlier in the day, filled up over the evening. As we came past later there were even more people out. Many of them not dining at any of the bars or restaurants, but having come out of their houses to suss out the news of the day and no doubt talk about us visitors.

After we were all quite flup (full up) we ventured up the hill. This meant a second hike for mum and dad, who braved the heat earlier in the day. Kim, Dad and Toby walked up the front, behind the village, while Mum and I stuck to the road around the back of the wall. We made it up with just enough light to take some quick photos and make it back down again.