Friday 9th October 2015 – Riaza, Spain

This is a big area for Celtiberian / Roman sites and we decided to visit another today – Tiermes. We stopped at Ayllon, described by the Michelin Green Guide as an ‘attractive Castilian town’ and we have to agree. It is a small town and after parking just outside the old town we walked over the river bridge to the newer part of the town to a small supermarket for essential supplies. We hadn’t intended to stop but the old town looked interesting so we walked in through one of the old gates that once had walls either side, long since converted into houses. The square was especially pretty with some lovely architecture and a hotel that we both like the look of with rooms overlooking the square and a good restaurant below. There was also an interesting crenulated tower above the town but we didn’t have time to investigate that.

On then to Tiermes where we stopped at the museum and paid the huge price of €1 each for entry. It was a very small museum mainly displaying information boards and an audio visual (all only in Spanish) with just a few finds. We drove on 1km to the site expecting to pay an entry fee only to find that it is totally open. Once again, the remains are almost exclusively Roman or later but it is an intriguing site as much of the town was cut into the red sandstone hill. On the cliffs, rooms and stairs have been cut into the stone and extra room and house frontages added in a combination of stone and wood. On the top of the hill basements were cut into the rock and this was also ideal for bath complexes. An aqueduct brought water from the hills and in was then transported by deep gullies and a long tunnel both cut into the rock. I was impressed that, rather than blocking off the aqueduct tunnel, there was a warning sign saying that you should use a torch and it might be claustrophobic. I had a torch! As with the other sites, the views were really good from the site making it a very good defensive choice.

Back then to the Riaza campsite where we decided to eat in their restaurant. I had the most enormous steak with, as usual in Spain, no sign of any vegetables. It was very good but a pudding was out of the question!

Photos: The main square in Ayllon old town; The unusual tower on the hill above Ayllon; Tiermes – Gate of the Sun still showing the ruts that the wagons made as they entered the town; The ‘Southern Rock Complex’ showing the buildings cut deep into the red rock; The substantial tunnel of the aqueduct; The Western Gate with the deep cut of the aqueduct showing on the left side of the cliff; Looking west over the shops below the forum.