Tuesday 22 May 2023
A rest day in Medinaceli (pop 658) at an altitude of 1210m and being Tuesday the museums are shut so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Medinaceli, an Arabic place name meaning “city of heaven”, is one of Los Pueblos más Bonitos de España (The Most Beautiful Villages of Spain) with 11 sites on the Tourist Information booklet. It took us about 2 hours wandering around to see them all.
El Cantar mentions Medinaceli on several occasions as an important border crossing point on the trips made by the relatives of El Cid between Castilla and Valencia. Located on an imposing hill from where several valleys can be seen, Medinaceli, in the time of El Cid, was coveted by Christians and Muslims, changing hands several times.
