Alhama de Aragón

The Romans called this place Aquae Bilbilitanorum — "the waters of the Bilbilitani" — and the name appears in the Antonine Itinerary and imperial documents, confirming that the thermal springs were already in use by that period. The pre-Roman name was probably Congedus, according to the poet Martial, who was from nearby Bilbilis. The Arabic name Alhama comes directly from Al-Hammam, meaning "the baths," and two rock-cut thermal pools from that era survive: the Baño del Moro and the Baño de la Mora.

El Cid took the town in 1081 — it is mentioned by name in the Cantar de Mío Cid — but it returned to Muslim hands before Alfonso I reconquered it permanently in 1122, after capturing Calatayud. Its position on the border between Castile and Aragón made it a repeated flashpoint: during the War of the Two Pedros it changed hands several times between 1361 and 1366, and the dispute continued into the following century until 1454, when it was definitively incorporated into the Crown of Aragón. The town's current name, Alhama de Aragón, dates only from a municipal renaming in 1916.

The parish church of the Natividad de Nuestra Señora is a Baroque building in brick and rammed earth, extended in 1714. Its tower is Mudéjar in style: square in plan, rising in three slightly tapering stages, the lowest in ashlar stone and the upper two in brick. Inside, a single nave with chapels between the buttresses leads to a crossing and a hemispherical dome; the most striking feature is the Mudéjar-tradition plasterwork covering the vaults of the chancel and the arms of the transept.

The castle stands on the hill called La Serratilla, just outside the town. It is a modest fortification: an oval walled enclosure with a rectangular floor plan built directly onto the rock, partially protected by a low battered plinth. Of the original Muslim structure, only the keep still stands, and that tower is thought to be later than the rest of the complex. The old town centre retains the street pattern of the Muslim period and some good examples of local vernacular architecture, including the town hall — a large, symmetrical two-storey eclectic building with three round arches at ground level on its central bay.

Alhama de Aragón is 115 km from Zaragoza. By road, take the "Alhama de Aragón–Monasterio de Piedra" exit from the N-II motorway. By rail, the AVE high-speed line puts the town roughly one hour from Madrid and 20 minutes from Zaragoza; regional trains also connect Calatayud with Alhama.

A bus runs Monday to Friday between Calatayud and Alhama, departing at 12:30 and 18:30 (Autobuses IJARA, tel. 976 880 922). Local food specialities include migas, ternasco a la pastora (lamb), bacalao zaragozano (salt cod with potatoes), and the town's own bizcochos baturros de Alhama de Aragón. Look for wines from Cariñena and nearby Bodegas Langa (DO Calatayud).