Greeks (Teruel)

Griegos is a Spanish municipality and town in the province of Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon. The municipal area, located in the Sierra de Albarracín region, has a population of 140 inhabitants (INE 2022).

Geography

Located at the foot of the Muela de San Juan, Griegos is a small town in the Sierra de Albarracín, nestled in the Montes Universales. Located in a natural setting dominated by Scots pine forests and high mountain meadows.

It has been called the coldest town in all of Spain.

It is the second highest town in all of Spain, with an altitude of 1601 m above sea level, attached to the Muela de San Juan. The first is Valdelinares, also in Teruel.

History

On June 21, 1257, by privilege of King Jaime I given in Teruel, this place became part of Sesma de Villar del Cobo in the Community of Santa María de Albarracín, which depended directly on the king, enduring this regime administrative being the only one that has remained alive after the application of the Decree of Dissolution of the same, in 1837, having its current headquarters in Tramacastilla.

In the middle of the XIX century, the place had a registered population of 190 inhabitants. The town is described in the eighth volume of the Geographical-statistical-historical dictionary of Spain and its overseas possessions by Pascual Madoz as follows:

GRIEGOS: l. con ayunt. en la prov. de Teruel (10 leg.), dióc. y part. jud. de Albarracin (5), aud. terr. y c. g. de Zaragoza (27). sit. in the highest of the saw that bears the name of the cab. from the part. jud., at the foot of St. John's muela by the E., with free ventilation, especially from the wind N., and climate healthy, though shudderedly cold by the many snows that abound the earth. It consists of 40 houses, among them that of the fast., in 4 streets and a square, forming the body of pobl.: there is a school of first letters attended by 30 children, and equipped with 620 rs.; a fountain of scellent water from which the vec arises; igl. parr. (San Pedro Apostle), served by a priest of ordinary provisions; a cemetery very capable of the estrem. Confine the Term. al N. with that of Orihuela (3 leg.); E. Villar del Cobo (1); S. Guadalaviar (1), and O. Czech (3); there are infinite fountains and springs of scelenles and crystall waters. The field is broken, montuous and of poor quality, with two remarkable mountains called the Musta and the Muela with many pine albars, good for construction woods; a deh. Named Major to the S. of the village, of 1 leg. of long. and 1/2 of lat., comun between the l. of Guadalaviar and Villar del Cobo, and several natural meadows that produce a lot of yerba, especially vallo and trebol. Them roads They are all horseshoe and lead to immediate peoples. La correspondence is received from the Albarracin stave by peaton. prod.: rye, low barley, oats, low portion of lentils and potatoes, in reduced amount and insufficient for the consumption of the people; there are lanar cattle, goat and trashumante vacuno, which take advantage of the many pastures that are raised in all the tearm., and hunt for perdices, hares and some bandages. pobl.: 47 vec., 190 alm. cap. imp.: 108,840 reais. The municipal budget pile to 3,301 rs., which are covered with 450 rs. product of an oven, 300 of a deh. and the deficit by neighborhood cast.
This village, as well as that of Guadalaviar, were once neighborhoods of the Villar de Cobos until in 1692 they separated by forming fast., but they still retain the 3 villages in common their tearm. and the use of their mountains, grasses and grasses.

(Madoz, 1847, p. 593)

Demographics

It has an area of 31.77 km² with a population of 136 inhabitants (INE 2019) and a density of 4.28 inhab/km².

Graphic of demographic evolution of Greeks (Teruel) between 1877 and 2016

Population of Law (1857-1897) according to population censuses of the century INEXIX.Population of Law (1900-1991) or resident population (2001) according to population censuses of the INE.Population according to the 2010 INE Municipal Register.

Climate

The climate of Griegos is continental Mediterranean. Altitude is the main factor that causes such low temperatures to occur in Griegos, with an average annual temperature of only 7.5 °C. It has extremely cold and long winters, and cool and short summers, only being able to exceed 30 °C in July and August. In winter temperatures can drop below -15 °C. In the height of summer, thermometers can even register temperatures below 0 °C on some occasions.

Regarding rainfall, it is characterized by being a relatively humid area, spring being the rainiest season and highlighting a summer drought in the months of July and August, with some storms. The outstanding precipitations are those coming from the Atlantic fronts, although they have traveled a long way and arrive somewhat more worn. The rainfall is hardly due to centers that act in the Mediterranean, since it is the Gúdar and Javalambre mountain ranges that interfere with the advance of the rains.

Average climatic parameters of Greeks (Teruel) in the period 1961-2003
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Average temperature (°C)	3.8	5.5	8.4	10.9	14.7	20.3	24.5	24	19.9	13.4	8.2	5	13.2
Average temperature (°C)	-0.4	0.6	3.1	5.5	9.2	14.1	17.7	17.4	13.8	8.1	3.4	0.7	7.8
Temp. medium (°C)	-4.6	-4.3	-2.2	0	3.6	7.9	10.9	10.7	7.7	2.8	-1.4	-3.6	2.3
Total precipitation (mm)	41	43	60	60	84	69	35	39	54	54	50	52	641
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. Precipitation data for the period 1961-2003 and temperature for the period 1961-2003 in Greeks (9098).

Administration and politics

Last mayors

Election results

Environment

The natural area is the main wealth of Greeks, surrounded by lush forests, extensive cereal fields, cattle pasture, karstic modeling and innumerable sources of fresh and crystalline water.

The fauna is abundant and emergent, highlighting the abundance of butterflies and game species. Griegos is located in the Montes Universales National Hunting Reserve.

The cold greatly limits the richness of flora in the area. An important wealth in Griegos and in the mountains are mushrooms and mushrooms, abundant in autumn, which everyone strives to collect.

Heritage

From the town's historical heritage, three buildings stand out in the town: the church of San Pedro, the hermitage of San Roque and the Pairón de San Antonio Abad.

Among the Celtiberian remains located in Griegos are the necropolis of "El Cuarto", the tower "El Castillejo" and the habitat of "El Montón de Tierra".

Close to the town, hundreds of meters of trenches from the Spanish Civil War have been preserved; as well as old pens and farrowing pens where cattle were sheltered in other times, and also constructions for the production of lime, the so-called "caleras", etc.

In addition to the historical heritage, tourism is currently attracted by the inauguration of cross-country ski tracks, along with PR and GR trails in the area, as well as the hotel offer: hostel, rental houses, rural tourism houses, apartments, etc. In terms of tourism, Griegos currently benefits from the decentralization of tourism in the mountains —very stagnant in the town of Albarracín— and offers attractive alternatives to visitors: hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing snow, mountain biking or just a weekend break from urban stress.

View of the Sierra de Albarracín from the viewpoint of the Muela de San Juan. At the bottom, the village of Greeks.

Services

Despite being a small municipality, Griegos has several businesses and different services that make the daily life of its inhabitants easier. Griegos has a bakery, which is also in charge of delivering bread to nearby towns; It also has a hostel, a rural house "Casa Aldea", as well as a bar-restaurant "La Muela de San Juan" and there is also an ethnographic museum on insects called the "Butterfly House".

It also has the public services of a doctor's office and a public school. Despite the difficulties that exist in rural areas to maintain public schools, Griegos has managed to maintain it even with just 6 students. In the last courses the number of schoolchildren is increasing thanks to municipal initiatives.