Our first excursion was to the Valle de los Lobos, where a chapel nestles among outrageous cliffs and caves. The guide showed us fossilized snails and remnants of ancient plankton in the stones at the foot of the chapel.

View from inside the cave looking at the chapel.

The students in medieval burial niches at the Necropolis de Cuyacabras en el Alto Arlanza (thanks Aixa!).

We returned by way of the Garganta de Yecla, a narrow canyon. I was there last year with my long lens so I can share photos of the buzzards which inhabit the towers above the canyon.

Looks like I set the ISO really high. Bummer. But that is one well-fed buzzard.

Caracena is another contender for most spectacular excursion. It’s out on a moor with cliffs dropping off one side and a canyon on the other. We visited the afternoon after the Tiermes lunar festival.

Last weekend we visited Tiermes, another abandoned Roman city in the region. Mike and Aixa excavated here years ago and guided the rest of us through the red sandstone cliffs and foundations of the ancient city.

There are remnants of old roads, irrigation tunnels, and an amphitheatre.

Mike told ghost stories in the tunnel, with predictable reactions.

There’s also a small Romanesque chapel on the site, with this capital which appears to depict a jousting match. Guess who won?

After touring the site, we took part in the full moon festival hosted by Manolo at the Venta Tiermes, togas and all. Thanks to Patricia from Soria who later sent me this photo of one of my jumps across the bonfire.

Last weekend we visited the caliphate fortress of Gormaz, which occupies a massive hill overlooking vast swathes of farmland in the province of Soria.

The fortress hosted Moorish forces during most of the tenth century as they skirmished with Christian armies to the north of the Duero river.

Christian armies took control of it during the fighting, but it wasn’t until 1060 that they held it definitively.

Knowing where you discover something is important: archaeologists survey the base of the theatre at Clunia.

Rosa brushes off one of two chunks of a statue bust in a room built alongside the entrance to the amphitheatre. Shrine? Looters’ storage area? Green room? Nobody knows.
This is Joan, the site director’s son, guarding a bronze blob he and I found in the middle of a ramp leading into the amphitheatre. The first clues were some green-tinged rocks. Beneath them some chunks of green and rust-colored metal sat encased in gray dirt and rock. It was hard to separate them so instead we worked around them, widening the pit until it got to about half a meter deep and we could see that the bronze didn’t go any lower. The blob rested on some old roof tiles and ash and burnt wood. Before removing it, Joan wrapped it in gauze and painted it with acetone to hold it together.

Shannon wriggles her nose while Francesc and Aixa hash out the next steps for uncovering steps on a ramp into the backstage area of the theatre.