After our more active days in Soria and Burgos in May, running the Rio Lobos canyon and hiking Picos de Urbion, we casually made our way home, planning to stop and see some sites along the way. The forecast that day called for rain. Since it was sunny and hadn’t started raining by the time we left the campground, we were optimistic. While driving, we chatted about the perception of percentages: how for many people, a 40% chance of rain may be enough to keep them inside and cancel their plans. However, a 40% chance of rain also implies a 60% chance of no rain, and perhaps such a reframing would not result in canceled plans. It was clear to both of us that we had no plans of canceling our stops along the way—the first of which would be in Burgo de Osma to walk through this walled city to the castle in the hills beyond.
As we neared the town, the clouds thickened, becoming darker, so we grabbed jackets and umbrellas before setting out into the near empty city to head to the massive cathedral. Optimism slowly died while in the freezing walls of the massive stone structure. On a normal summery Spanish day, that deep chill would be welcome, but on this overcast morning, it was nearly intolerable.
By the time we left, that 40% had turned into a 100% chance of constant, heavy rain. Now extremely deterred and perhaps a bit regretful of our previous bravado, we scurried the 100 meters across the plaza to see the city walls, decided not to continue to the castle that now looked so far away in the mist. Instead, we turned back toward the plaza outside the cathedral to have a hot drink in a bar and eat some torreznos, which are slices or chucks of deep-fried pork belly and a typical dish of the region. We walked back to the car, enjoying another nice feature of the region—the upper floors of the buildings extend out over the entrances to the shops below, also covering the entire sidewalk.
Once in the car, we plotted out our next steps. We decided to skip our planned stop at the Celtiberian village of Uxama, the name that is the precursor of “Osma.” Instead, we decided to head further away to the combination Celtiberian/Roman settlement of Tiermes, hoping the rain would have died down a bit by the time we got there.
As I have probably mentioned many times, in addition to castles, one of the other things I love to see is anything Roman. I had seen the sign for this archeological site on our way to Rio Lobos and asked if we could go. At the time, my partner wasn’t convinced, but during the weekend, he remembered learning about this site on TV. One of the public channels in Spain, RTVE has a documentary series called Ingenieria Romana (Roman Engineering) divided into different segments like aqueducts and roads. In fact, the aqueduct of Albarracín is featured in this show as well.
However, Tiermes is more than just an aqueduct. It includes the remains of an entire settlement and combines the older Celtiberian town with the Roman town that was built on top off/integrated into the previous settlement. It also has a Romanesque church from the 12th century.
The visit to Tiermes follows a well-organized loop that starts at the church. We chose to follow it in reverse, heading to just behind the church to walk along the elevated platform extending along the base of the forum below. From there, we descended to pass the walls segmented by the remains of the market.
Next, we descended further to the area surrounding the aqueduct, which includes the base of houses dug into the rusty colored rocks, with steep, worn stairs carved between them. Since I didn’t see the specific episode of Ingenieria Romana that featured this site, I also didn’t realize you could enter the aqueduct. So finding the entrance unbarred was an exciting discovery, and I quickly ducked in to find out where it went. The imperceptibly sloping tunnel passed under the circular openings used to create it, each with a set of hand and foot holds scooped out of the walls that once allowed access to the aqueduct. Eventually, it opened up to a cliff side, traversing it until evidence of the route faded into crumbling rock and vegetation.
From there, we crossed a flat grassy area where we found the continuation or another branch of the aqueduct dug into the rock, following it to where we lost it again at a small pool of water. At that point, I noticed a dramatic natural ramp between two rocky cliffs, called Puerto Oeste (West Gate), that led up to the remains of the Imperial Temple above. On the way there, we discovered another branch of the aqueduct, following its deep impression along another cliff wall until it became too flooded for our already uncomfortably damp sneakers.
After exploring the hill above the settlement, we returned to the cliff with the first aqueduct and took a trail that follows the base of the cliff. We passed below the settlement above, including the carved opening for the houses we saw earlier and those closer to the base of the cliff that we had not previosly seen. From there, we passed the remains of the baths and continued to what looked like an arena, complete with tiered seating carved from the rock. Next to the arena, another ramp, Puerto del Sol (Sun Gate) led to more houses, or rather basements, carved into the rock. Beyond, a little ways up the hill was the church where our visit had started.
It had been raining off and on, though not heavy, so our plan to change plans had actually worked out well. We had spent several hours exploring Tiermes and enjoyed each minute and discovery despite the damp.
