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Huesca Mini Guide
Huesca in Spain is a mountain town about 225 km (140 miles) north west of
Barcelona. Its surrounding province, also called Huesca, contains Pico d'Aneto, on the French border, the highest point on the Pyrenees at 3404 m (11168 ft).
It is a smallish city located in a mountainous part of northern Spain. The city and surrounding province are popular with tourists who are looking for fun outdoor activities such as mountain biking and paragliding but there is also a rich cultural history to see. Walking through Huesca you won’t fail to see the lavish cathedral which was intricately designed in the Gothic style by King Jaime I of Aragon in the 12th century. The cathedral was built on the ruins of an old mosque and is considered one of the foremost architectural landmarks of northern Spain. Much of Huesca's old city is being demolished but the Romanesque church of SS Pedro y Pablo still remains standing as a fine piece of architecture. There is even an art nouveau casino in the centre of town for those who are looking for a thrill.
Huesca was most well known because of a passage in George Orwell’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’ novel, in which he overheard a Spanish general saying that when the civil war was over he would go for a coffee in Huesca. In fact the Huesca front was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting between Franco’s army and the Republicans.
Huesca is located in Aragon and in the Pyrenees and has many rivers, lush valleys and lofty mountain ranges. There are many national parks in the surrounding vicinity which make it an ideal place to go mountaineering or even white water rafting and the stunning scenery of the region is completely unspoilt.
The town of around 50,000 people also celebrate many festivals. The most important of these takes place in August, the fiesta of San Lorenzo, which commemorates a fallen saint who was burned on a grille by the Romans. The grille has become the symbol of his martyrdom and of Huesca, and it can be seen in many decorative works throughout the city.
It is not hard to get to Huesca. The nearest airport is at
Zaragoza which receives passengers from Ryanair. If you hire a car there it gives you the option of getting up to the ski resorts during the winter months.
Madrid and Barcelona both have high speed AVE trains going to Huesca but if you really want to take in the view get the train from Canfranc which ends at the sublime and deserted Louis XV train station.