ON THE WAY TO CASTILLO DE AZAGALA

CASTILLO DE LA LUNA -ALBUQUERQUE

A perfectly gorgeous spring day meant it was time for a jaunt into another part of Extremadura by way of Albuqerque. The fabulous Castillo de Luna dominates the town, unfortunately closed for renovation for the next few months but because of a diversion we found the beautiful XIIIth century

church of Santa Maria del Mercado, a gem, beautifully restored except for the garish new stained

glass windows.

We left Albuquerque in the direction of the Embalse de Peña de Aguilla, after about 8kms there is a sign for Castillo de Azagala on the left, it's a fairly good earth camino, pass through 3 gates and then park the car and walk for 30 minutes up to the castle. A lovely walk through a typical Extremadura landscape of holm oaks with the lake sparkling in the foreground and the castle towering over the scene on a high crag. Gormenghastly! And was to proove even more so as we reached the ancient portal and walked into a place forgotten by time.

 

       

It was a most extraordinary feeling of stepping into an ancient space, the physical condition was ruinous but the shape and format remained incredibly solid, one felt immediately encapsulated, protected and enveloped by deep tranquility. The long walk up 52 steep steps of the torre de menáge was not worrying, the stone steps had survived  seven centuries of tramping. We emerged at the top to see the whole castle below us and the blue waters of the lake rippling below.

 

 

There were stables, cellars, tunnels, a chapel with broken alter and over-turned holy water stoop, arcades, a bell tower, turrets, a long drop lavatory with wooden seats, huge open chimneys.

 A 19th century wing with an abandoned billiard table slate top intact, a glassed in walkway, rooms of broken beds, tables and chairs, fluttering velvet curtains, a whole world of staid domesticity broken, torn and decaying. Who were the last people to live in this remote castle? When did they leave? Why did they leave? We thought maybe after a long period as a defensive castle it had been abandoned for centuries and maybe the owning family had moved back for periods in the 18th -19th century, perhaps more abandonment and a partial use until about 50 years ago judging by the remains of the furniture and the kitchen "appliances".  Here is a link to the history of Azagala in Spanish

  http://siguelashuellas.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/azagala-ii-historia/

       

      

             

          

                 

   

One of the most sensational elements of Azagala is the colony of Griffon Vultures nesting on the crags by the stream that feeds the lake. It's a wild and remote place but there are views directly down onto the crags from the walls of the castle so we were able to observe the vultures as they sunned themselves on the rocks and swooped about the castle walls. A magical spectacle.