Spain/Aragon: Teruel
Teruel is an amazing town located high up in the mountains of central Spain in the Aragón province (it’s actually the provincial capital, but still tiny with only 34k population). The entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage site for its Islamic-influenced medieval architecture – Mudejar architecture. Teruel is actually known as “town of mudejar”. There are four medieval towers that seem to resemble Moroccan square mosques – and you can climb to the top for views of the town below. Everything around the towers – windows and stairs and layout is square geometry unlike the round and spiral elements in the gothic churches – they were originally built by the Moors and later converted into churches. Another famous attraction is the statute of a small bull – El Torico – in the central plaza. And finally, Teruel is famous as the hometown for possibly the world’s best jamon – Jamon Teruel. It’s type of a jamon serrano (mountain ham), and it’s air-dryed here at high elevation in cold mountain air. Just like jamon iberico de Bellota is the most famous and expensive type of jamon iberico, so is Jamon Teruel the most famous and exquisite type of jamon serrano. The stuff is mouth mouth-watering, richer and more flavorful then iberico or prosciutto and with higher fat content.
