Jiloca (region)

The Jiloca region is a region of Aragon (Spain), in the northwest of the province of Teruel, located in the Iberian system, around the middle section of the Jiloca river, from which it receives its name. It has an area of 1932.10 km² and a population of 14,584 inhabitants. Its administrative capital is Calamocha and the agricultural development capital is Monreal del Campo.

The Jiloca region encompasses 40 municipalities and 58 towns, all of them belonging to the province of Teruel and the autonomous community of Aragon. The most important and populated municipalities are Calamocha (4,776 inhabitants) and Monreal del Campo (2,744 inhabitants). The region is located in the corridor that joins the cities of Teruel and Zaragoza, a corridor integrated into the Mediterranean-Cantabrian Corridor, one of the main transport axes in northeastern Spain that connects the cities of Valencia, Zaragoza and Bilbao.

Municipalities of the region

Political map of the Jiloca region

The region encompasses the municipalities of Allueva, Bádenas, Báguena, Bañón, Barrachina, Bea, Bello, Blancas, Bueña, Burbáguena, Calamocha, Caminreal, Castejón de Tornos, Cosa, Cucalón, Ferreruela de Huerva, Fonfría, Fuentes Claras, Lagueruela, Lanzuela, Loscos, Monforte de Moyuela, Monreal del Campo, Nogueras, Odón, Ojos Negros, Peracense, Pozuel del Campo, Rubielos de la Cérida, San Martín del Río, Santa Cruz de Nogueras, Singra, Tornos, Torralba de los Little Bustards, Torrecilla del Rebollar, Torre los Negros, Torrijo del Campo, Villafranca del Campo, Villahermosa del Campo and Villar del Salz.

On the other hand, the localities of the region that are not independent and that are districts belonging to the previous municipalities are Collados, Cuencabuena, Cutanda, Lechago, Luco de Jiloca, Navarrete del Río, Nueros, Olalla, El Poyo del Cid, Valverde, Villarejo de los Olmos, Loscos Mosque, Piedrahíta, El Colladico, Villalba de los Morales, Corbatón, Godos and Sierra Menera.

Geography

Campo de Bello or Cuenca de Gallocanta

The Jiloca Region limits to the north with the Campo de Daroca, to the west with the Señorío de Molina-Alto Tajo (Guadalajara province), to the south with the Community of Teruel and the Sierra de Albarracín and to the east with the Basins Mineras and Campo de Belchite.

In the Jiloca Region, several relief areas can be distinguished in broad strokes: the Jiloca valley, the Pancrudo valley and the mountains that surround and delimit them. Some sections of the Huerva valley and the Aguasvivas valley that penetrate these mountains are also included.

Valley of Jiloca and Sierra de Valdellosa at the bottom

Among the depressions and the mountains that delimit the Jiloca valley, in the form of wide plains, we find the Campo de Romanos, the Campo de Bello or Cuenca de Gallocanta, the Blancas-Odón parameras and, marginally, the plains of Pozondón and the parameras of Campo de Visiedo.

The mountains are divided into multiple reliefs, sometimes isolated. The southwestern branch of the Aragonese Central Iberian is an outcrop of the Middle and Upper Cambrian. You can distinguish the Sierra de Santa Cruz.

Sierra de Herrera

A little further south it connects with the Mesozoic foothills of the Albarracín massif, highlighting above all the Sierra Menera and the Sierra de San Ginés or Almohaja.

Towards the east, crossing the Jiloca valley, we find the northeastern branch with the following reliefs:

• Sierra de Herrera
• Sierra de Cucalón (including the Fonfría mountain range, Sierra de Oriche and Muela de Anadón).

And a little further south it connects with the Sierra de Lidón and Sierra Palomera.

Part of its territory is occupied by the Gallocanta Lagoon Managed Nature Reserve.

Gallocanta Lagoon

Gallocanta Lagoon.

It is located between the regions of Campo de Daroca and Jiloca, forming part of the municipalities of Santed, Gallocanta, Berrueco, Las Cuerlas, Tornos and Bello; that is, between the provinces of Zaragoza and Teruel.

It covers an area of 1924 ha and another 4553 ha of peripheral protection area. It has a maximum length of 7 km and a maximum width of 2 km, being the largest natural lagoon in the Iberian Peninsula and together with the Fuente de Piedra lagoon (Málaga province) it is the largest salty lagoon in Europe.^{[citation required]} It has an average depth of 70 cm and the maximum is 2 m. The altitude ranges from 995 to 1085 m s. no. m..

It is a good example of an endorheic mountain basin, that is, it has no outlet to the sea. Its waters come mainly from underground torrents, so its salinity is very high: ten times higher than that of seawater, which means that in dry periods salt crusts form on its beaches.

The nature reserve was declared as such on November 30, 2006.

It is also SCI and ZEPA.

Geology

The geology of the Jiloca Region is made up of soils of sedimentary origin, soils that originated in marine and continental environments over a period of more than 500 million years, from the Cambrian to the Quaternary, that is, until the present.

Rodeno de Peracense

• The Paleozoic surfaces in half N of the area, forming part of the two branches that constitute the core of the Iberian mountain range. The West which, from the proximity of Soria, extends, with NO-SE direction, to the hill of San Esteban de El Poyo del Cid, and the East, from which a part appears in the area of Bádenas-Santa Cruz de Nogueras-Loscos. Mention apart, due to its discontinuity, deserves the flowering of Sierra Menera.

• The Mesozoic is located in the western and southern part, constituting the warm reliefs of the Odon-Blancas-Ojos Negros-Villar area of the Salz-Villafranca, and those of the Sierra de Lidón to the south also aflora on the eastern edge, in the Sierra de Cucalón, between Fonfría and Cucalón. In the first area there are several points of geological interest among which stand out the surrounding area of Peracense.

• The Terciario occupies the central area, the one between the two paleozoic branches. It is part of the basin known geologically as Calatayud-Montalban, and which in the region corresponds to the southern end of the Campo de Romanos and the Pancrudo River basin.

• Finally, the depressions of Jiloca, Daroca and Gallocanta and the funds of rivers, ramblas and ravines are covered by gravel, sands and lemons from the erosion of all previous materials. His age is Quaternary.

Geomorphology

The geomorphology of a territory is a consequence of terrestrial dynamics, of the interaction of internal and external geological processes. Specifically, in the region, internal geodynamics is responsible for the larger structures, the large folds and fractures such as Sierra Menera, Sierra de Cucalón, Gallocanta endorheic depression, Jiloca embedment, etc. On the other hand, the erosive processes, the external geodynamics, model the previous structures, and ultimately, the very nature of the materials is responsible for the current morphology. Thus, for example, Ordovician quartzites, harder rocks, occupy the highest ridges, while slates or clays appear in troughs and valleys. The highest level corresponds to the San Ginés vertex (1603 m).

In summary, the region is made up of a series of larger structures, which are arranged like bands following the Iberian guideline (NW-SE). From west to east, these are the following: Sierra Menera, Parameras de Blancas-Odón, Gallocanta, Alto Jiloca, Middle Jiloca Paleozoic, Campo Romanos-Cuenca del Pancrudo, Sierra de Lidón and Sierra de Cucalón.

All of them are structures generated in the Alpine orogeny, a complex process that develops from Mesozoic times to the present. The main orogenic phase took place in the Oligocene, about 30 million years ago. At that time the folds and larger structures originated, but that does not mean that the orogeny had already ended; later, during the Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary, the rearrangement of those structures took place and fractures appeared that conditioned the existence of the later Miocene and Quaternary basins.

Alomadas forms in the region. At the bottom, the Palomera saw

Regarding the morphology, add that the Paleozoic morphostructural domain presents an abrupt relief, especially in the middle Jiloca, as a consequence of the fractures and faults that allowed its embedding. The hard levels, especially those of quartzites, are modeled in the form of slopes and rounded hills, generally of little continuity due to the numerous transversal faults that intersect them.

The Mesozoic domain presents, as a whole, ridged forms; only in the Sierra de Lidón slopes and some vertical ridge appear. In the W and SW zone, erosion surfaces are recognized on carbonate materials, with great development and continuity, although highly degraded by current karstic processes.

The Tertiary domain is predominantly horizontal and is basically made up of a plateau with very sharp jagged edges, originated by fluvial action, rising above the horizontal limestone levels (Campo Romanos). The detrital materials underlying the limestones have an intense dendritic network, the gullies originated in them being spectacular, for example the Pagos de Navarrete.

In the Jiloca Region there are several points of geomorphological interest that must be highlighted:

• Alluvial fan of Sierra Palomera
• Blonde of the Cérida

Climatology

Broadly speaking, the climatic variables of the Jiloca Region define a cool and somewhat dry continental Mediterranean climate. It allows cultivating, without the need for artificial watering, winter grain cereals, vines and resistant plants such as saffron. In orchards and fields with a higher degree of humidity, legumes, vegetables, bulbs, certain industrial crops such as hemp and flax, and some fruit trees are possible (although for the latter, the risk of being damaged must be taken into account). produces some frost in spring and ruins the flowering of these and prevents the subsequent collection of the fruits, which happens with some frequency).

Temperatures

The temperature of the Jiloca Region is one of its most representative climatic qualities. Winters are cool and long. During the day, the Iberian anticyclone enters easily, providing the environment with great tranquility and contributing to a high number of hours of sunshine. The residents usually take advantage of the presence of this winter sun to walk around the surroundings of the town or to rest, calmly, on the benches. However, the pleasant caress of the sun's rays makes the contrast between day and night seem stronger. For seven or eight months, from October to May, the arrival of sunset can be accompanied by temperatures below zero (frost), frequent in winter, almost daily, and unexpected and devastating for agriculture if they occur in late spring..

Precipitation

Another meteorological condition, especially when cultivating some agricultural products or others, is rain. In the Jiloca valley, rainfall has always been somewhat scarce, oscillating between 350 and 600 mm. according to the years The reason for this dryness is its location in the inner zone of the Iberian mountain range, a mountainous orography that acts as a wall, preventing the humid winds from the Atlantic and the Mediterranean from penetrating beyond its outer margins. The rain is usually concentrated in spring and autumn, as holy water the first, which takes place between the months of March and May, since it allows the cereals sown several months before to germinate. When summer arrives, the punctual precipitations usually have a stormy origin, activating the boulevards and sometimes causing damage to the fields. The absence of precipitation in winter is explained by the aforementioned predominance of the Iberian anticyclone and, although it is not frequent, when it rains, it usually does so in the form of snow. The snowfalls are not usually heavy, but they usually freeze, remaining like this for several days.

Humidity

It is a somewhat dry climate, with little humidity in the atmosphere. In summer and winter, the entrance of the Iberian anticyclone provides an environment with low humidity.

Historical evolution

The climate has been able to vary throughout history. The greatest oscillation would take place at the time of the ice ages, coinciding with the first settlers that we found in the Fonfría mountain ranges, although for these ancient times there are hardly any reliable studies. Already entered the Middle Ages, according to J.L. Corral, the 8th to 12th centuries must have been hotter and drier than today. From the XIII century the climate cools and increases humidity, softening again from the XV and XVI. During the XVII century, low temperatures returned, damaging crops, and from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the climate became to temper. These long-term oscillations, since there are no such old statistical sources, are mere hypotheses in which not all historians have to agree, often depending on the historical texts used, and these may vary. For Antonio Gargallo, to give a contrary example, the XI century would be characterized precisely by its greater humidity.

Hydrology

Río Pancrudo

The Jiloca Region is configured, at a hydrological level, by the Jiloca River and its tributary, the Pancrudo. Some sections of the headwaters of the Huerva, Aguasvivas, Cámaras, Nogueta and Piedra rivers that penetrate the mountains that surround the Jiloca valley are also found in the region.

The groundwater springs are very numerous, especially the outcrops of the water tables coming from the Albarracín mountain range and the Gallocanta lagoon. The water from these upwellings feeds the flow of the main rivers and streams, digging more or less deep channels in the fluvial terraces. Some have no outlet, leading to endorheic areas.

The weather and rainwater are also very important in determining the landscape of the region, assuming the functions of recharging the aquifers and, after summer storms, activating the boulevards and streams.

In some cases, when the channel is superficial, without unevenness or coincides with the end of a ravine, water can accumulate on the surface of the Jiloca valley, appearing wide, very humid meadows, favorable for the growth of pastures and forests fluvial. They were the old meadows and forests of the Jiloca, currently plowed and dried.

In addition, in the region, in terms of hydrology, we can highlight:

• Eyes of the Jiloca and small springs that provide water
• Regular streams and branches or intermittent channels where water runs
• Lagunas y Humedales
• Prairies and lots in those very humid places.
• Lechago swamp

History

The region as an institution

On March 24, 2003, the Jiloca Region was established as a local territorial entity in charge of the government and administration of the region in terms of regional powers, by means of the law creating the region 13/2003 of the March 24, 2003. It was incorporated on May 5, 2003. The powers were transferred to it on October 1, 2003.

Administration and politics

The Jiloca Region is a local territorial entity of supra-municipal scope. For this reason, the Comarca, as an institution, is in charge of providing services and managing supra-municipal activities that fall within its competence. The main matters in which the Jiloca Region has jurisdiction are: Social Action, Sports, Cultural Heritage and Cultural Traditions, Youth, Tourism, Civil Protection, Waste, Culture, New Technologies and Employment and Development.

The new institutional headquarters of the Jiloca Region is located at 43 Corona de Aragón street in the town of Calamocha, administrative capital of the region.

The governing and administrative body of the Comarca del Jiloca is the Comarcal Council. The Jiloca Regional Council is made up of the President and the Councillors. Currently, it is composed of a total of 25 members. The current president of the Jiloca Region is Yolanda Domingo Alegre, a member of the Aragonese Party (PAR).

The results of the last elections in the Comarca del Jiloca were the following:

Economy

In the Jiloca region, the most important economic sectors have historically been agriculture and livestock, as in most of the Spanish rural world. We can also highlight the mining activity linked to copper and iron. However, from the XX century, an incipient industry related to the transformation of agricultural and livestock products arose in the region. At present, the industry is an important sector in the region. In addition, in the regional capitals (Calamocha and Monreal del Campo) we also find numerous tertiary or service activities.

Agriculture

Cereal fields in Bello Field

Historically, agriculture has been the most important economic activity in the Jiloca region, both for the employed population and for the wealth it generates. In most of the valley dryland crops dedicated to cereal predominate. Only the fluvial terraces of Jiloca and Pancrudo, a minimal part of the valley, are exploited for irrigation, eventually, with water limitations during the summers.

It must be taken into account that this is an area where night temperatures are low, which has favored the cultivation of extensive cereal surfaces, which adapt well to the potential offered by the physical environment as a whole and in specifically the climatology of the area, with a short frost-free period. For this reason, woody crops are less represented, although they are more important in the municipalities located next to the Jiloca River.

The most representative crops throughout history have been the following:

• The cereal
• The vine
• The saffron
• The hemp
• The beetle

To these crops we must add the existence of small orchards where the families obtained vegetables and greens. These orchards could be irrigated with small ditches or, in the towns of the mountains, with wells.

In this region the saffron flower is collected, one of the most valuable spices in existence.

Livestock

Livestock farming has been linked to the existence of numerous areas unsuitable for cultivation, especially the foothills, highly suitable for extensive sheep farms. In the last decades of the XX century, intensive farming, especially pig farming, has spread, especially in the Jiloca axis.

Mining

Extractive and industrial activities related to mining have been constant throughout the centuries, focused mainly on the two most abundant minerals in the Jiloca region, copper and, above all, iron. Both were exploited from very ancient times, although they have followed very different evolutions throughout history.

The most important mining activity was located in the Sierra Menera iron depository, one of the most important in Spain. During the XX century it was exploited industrially, generating many jobs. The Sierra Menera Mining Company opened a crisis file in 1986. In September 1987 the Company was dissolved, proceeding to close the mines and abandon the facilities.

Other minerals that have also been exploited in the Jiloca valley are lead, gypsum, alabaster, lime and salt. These products allowed the appearance of numerous construction factories.

Currently, all mining activity, very important in the past, has disappeared from the region.

Iron

The Sierra Menera iron ore farm, one of the most important in Spain, has been exploited since ancient times. The Celtiberians and Romans controlled the surroundings of Sierra Menera through a series of small defensive towns from where the mines were exploited and the first mineral smelters were carried out, verified through numerous slag heaps. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the exploitation of Sierra Menera supplied mineral to all the metallurgical factories of Guadalajara, Cuenca and Albarracín, of which very interesting remains are preserved in the nearby provinces.

During the XIX century the Sierra Menera deposit was completely fragmented and compartmentalized, being exploited by numerous small concessions that they limited themselves to extracting what mineral they could through small, shallow wells. In 1900 the Sierra Menera Mining Company appeared, owned by the Basque businessman Ramón de la Sota y Aznar, with businesses of exporting iron to Europe, steel production and shipping companies.

The objective of this company was to extract the iron from Ojos Negros and Setiles to transport it to the Altos Hornos de Sagunto, where the mineral was smelted. In 1921 the mechanization of the farms began with the acquisition of two frontal steam excavators, continuing in the following decades with the installation of a conveyor belt to join the two slopes of the sierra and work at the same time in Setiles and Ojos Negros. In 1969, a crushing and mineral classification plant was installed and the following year an automatic loading platform on the wagon. Much of this industrial remains can still be seen in situ. The mining company also created a large industrial complex a few kilometers from Ojos Negros, made up of vehicle repair shops, a railway station, hangars and mineral deposits.

All these facilities have left their mark on the territory and can still be seen as ancient testimonies of Jiloca's industrial heritage:

• Cars
• Nave mineral classification
• Load hopper
• Heavy vehicle assembly vessel

The Sierra Menera Mining Company opened a crisis file in 1986. In September 1987 the Company was dissolved, proceeding to close the mines and abandon the facilities.

In addition to the Ojos Negros and Setiles mines, other veins of iron have been exploited in the Jiloca valley, although the quantities obtained have always been very small. Kindelan, at the beginning of the XX century, highlighted the following railway mines:

• Mines of El Poyo
• Almohaja Mines

Copper

The development of copper mining and metallurgy in the Jiloca region began at the beginning of the XVII century, when the The arrival of emigrant boilermakers from Auvergne made it possible to put into operation the existing mines in Calamocha and Luco de Jiloca.

• Copper Mine (Silver Light)
• Copper mine (Calamocha)

The copper hammers, also called “wire-wire factories”, were metallurgical facilities where copper ore was melted and irons and cauldrons were made. These factories were basically made up of a forge or furnace where the mineral was melted and a huge hammer or “hammer” to crush the metal and make the objects.

The earlier copper mines were abandoned in the 19th century.

Lead

There was a lead extraction industry in the town of Santa Cruz de Nogueras. It must have been created in the middle of the century, with an open pit mine and a washing plant in the river, near the highway bridge. It was active until the end of the 1970s, with a staff of 15 workers in the early 1970s, shortly after the operation had to close.

The Salt Flats

Black Eye Salts

Salt has been a basic necessity product throughout history, both because of the need to consume it, and because it is the way in which many foods have traditionally been preserved. The exploitation of salt has usually been one of the monopolies that were controlled directly by the king.

In the region there were salt pans in different places of saline exploitation:

• Black Eye Salts

The casts

Throughout the Jiloca Region we find numerous outcrops of gypsum, which have been used, especially throughout the century XX, for the construction sector. Particularly noteworthy are the Pancrudo plasters in the municipalities of Navarrete del Río, Cutanda, Barrachina and Torre los Negros.

Gypsum provided a new source of income, welcome extra money to supplement that earned from farm work, especially in winters when farm chores were minimal. It seems that the extraction of the plaster was free for all the residents, being able to remove all the stones they wanted without having to pay anything for it. The extraction of the rocks and their breaking was carried out with a pike, each neighbor his own. To facilitate the extraction, the clayey strata were usually removed first with the pick, deepening a narrow hole that, by means of crowbars and iron wedges, allowed the embedded gypsum rock to be broken and removed.

Forest use

Forest resources have always been exploited by municipalities through forest exploitation plans. These were, for the most part, items where arboreal and shrubby vegetation predominated, such as holm oak (Quercus ilex) and juniper groves, but which could be used, after a plowing process, for their cultivation and for the production of cereals. Its social impact has been very limited, except in the case of firewood, since its use was essential for heating homes in winter. Neighbors had the right to be able to cut a certain amount of branches for their own consumption.

Industry

The region's industry is characterized by being based on local raw materials, with the exception of two of the large companies in the area: Pyrsa and Peguform. The integration of activities of the primary sector with the industrial sector forming an agro-industry is concentrated in the Jiloca basin, which is acting as a motor and catalyst in the location of new industries and where industrial labor is much higher than agricultural.

The food industries and, especially the meat subsector specialized in pork, constitute an element with high development potential that generates more employment and contributes a substantial part of the regional income. The agri-food industries in the area have a majority presence of some of the products that we have previously highlighted when talking about agriculture and livestock: cereals, wines, fruits and the pig sector.

The cereal industry sector is the fundamental base of agriculture in this area. The storage of this product is carried out fundamentally in the first degree cooperatives. Marketing is shared between second-tier cooperatives and private initiative, in which Pastas Alimenticias Romero, S.A. stands out, an important company from the neighboring region of Campo de Daroca, which due to its high production even has to be supplied outside the area. The alcohol companies were an activity with a lot of roots, currently displaced by the wine cellars, controlled by the cooperatives. The meat sector is preferably located in the Jiloca Valley area and especially in the municipalities with the greatest weight, such as Calamocha, Caminreal and Monreal del Campo. It is also important to consider the ham dryers, one of the most important in the province of Teruel, covered by the Denomination of Origin "Jamón de Teruel" and, above all, the company Jamcal Alimentación, S.A..

Regarding the installation of foreign companies, the metal processing companies and the company PYRSA from Monreal del Campo have been a boost in the economy of the area, especially by absorbing many workers from the old mines of Sierra Menera. We must also highlight Peguform in Fuentes Claras. Some auxiliary companies of the Opel factory in Zaragoza have also recently established themselves in Loscos.

Construction is the third most important subsector, with widespread implementation in 70% of the municipalities. The sector is very fragmented, with small self-employed companies and a few indirect or induced jobs, with the exception of Calamocha, with three large construction material manufacturing companies and which may be the third major pillar for the organization of a fabric industry with an endogenous base. It stands out above all for its age Francisco Hernández, S.L.

Services

Most of the services are concentrated in the Jiloca corridor, following the axis marked by the main communication routes. They are mainly dedicated to repair services, lodging, sale of agri-food products and hospitality.

In the tertiary sector, retail trade, of a family nature, dominates. Calamocha and Monreal del Campo are the most commercial urban centers, where the main fairs were held in the past.

Despite the region's great tourist potential, the tourism sector is underdeveloped. Accommodation services are more linked to the highway than to tourism. However, a small network of rural tourism houses is currently being set up and an important boost is being given to the tourism sector from the regional administration.

A considerable effort is also being made to develop a cultural infrastructure that can satisfy the interests of the population and the growing number of tourists that the Jiloca region and its surroundings receive.

Economists

Studies on the economy and economic geography of the Jiloca region have usually been carried out by universities. Some of these studies have been carried out by professors from the Jiloca region, such as Professor Pascual Rubio Terrado, a native of Torrijo del Campo.

Tourism

Castle of Peracense

Torre Mudéjar de Olalla, World Heritage

Laguna de Gallocanta

Barranco del Arguilay, Báguena

Estatua de Rodrigo Díaz de Vívar, el Cid Campeador, en el Poyo del Cid (Camino del Cid)

Jiloca Viewer, Bañón

The Jiloca Region forms an exceptional and exotic tourist space, due to its rich history, its monumental wealth and its varied natural and landscape resources. It offers numerous possibilities to all types of tourists and excursionists, from historical, artistic and cultural tourism, to nature, sports and adventure tourism.

The current profile of the tourist who comes to the Jiloca Region is usually identified with young families looking for nature and culture. They stay a few days in hotels and rural tourism homes, making excursions in the surroundings. Despite the enormous tourist potential of the region, the region is still quite virgin territory, since the number of tourists who visit the region is still small and there is no overcrowding.

The offer of tourist facilities in the region has been increasing in recent years. The main tourist facilities in the region are the hostels in the Gallocanta lagoon area. On the other hand, rural tourism homes are numerous throughout the region and fill up during long weekends and holiday periods. Likewise, there are hotels with greater capacity in the regional capitals: Calamocha and Monreal del Campo.

Historical-artistic-cultural tourism

The Jiloca Region has an excellent historical-artistic heritage, with a very varied offer, from sites of ancient Roman cities to medieval castles, passing through palaces and ancestral homes in the historic quarters of the towns and villages of the region.

Within the extensive historical-artistic heritage of the region, the following stand out:

• The Castle of Peracense
• Historic Helmets of the villas and villages of the region, where the old town of Calamocha stands out
• The site of the ancient Roman city of "La Caridad", in Caminreal
• Mudejar towers of San Martín del Río, Navarrete del Río, Báguena and Olalla (World Heritage Site since 2001)
• Roman bridges of Luco de Jiloca and Calamocha
• Black Eye Iron Mines
• Palaces and manor houses
• San Martín del Río Wine Museum
• Black Eye Harine Wind Mill
• Museo del Azafrán de Monreal del Campo
• Old Royal Black Eye Salinas
• Lechago Dam

Nature tourism

In the Jiloca region there are natural landscapes of extraordinary beauty. Among them are:

• The Gallocanta Lagoon, one of the main European wetlands, an ornithological paradise where there are and the most important point of reference in Europe.
• The mountains of Herrera, Cucalón, Oriche, Pelarda, Santa Cruz, Valdellosa and Menera, where the eagles, halcons, gavilanes, deer, corzos, rebecos, wild boars and foxes and forests of oaks, sainas, quejigos, oaks and carrascas.
• The banks of the rivers Jiloca and Pancrudo.
• El Barranco del Arguilay (Báguena).
• The Eyes of the Jiloca.
• The birth and high course of the rivers Huerva and Aguasvivas
• Lechago swamp.

Sports and adventure tourism

The Jiloca Region offers the opportunity to carry out different hiking activities, horseback riding, mountain biking, climbing and canyoning in its spectacular natural environment. Various activities are organized throughout the year related to adventure sports.

Gastronomic tourism

The Jiloca region has a varied and exquisite gastronomy. Its flagship product is ham, included in the Teruel Ham Protected Designation of Origin.

The typical dishes of the region are many and varied. Some of the most outstanding are migas, preserved sausage, loin and ribs in oil, mushroom scrambled eggs, eggs in salmorejo, borage and hare, which can be enjoyed in a wide range of restaurants and rural hotels.

Tourist routes

There are a large number of hiking routes, by bike and by car. Among them, the following stand out:

• Cid Road
• Greenway of Black Eyes (mining road)
• Mudéjar Art Route
• Jiloca River Water Route and Pancrudo River Water Route, both with attractive hostels in the old flour mills.
• Route: On the border of two kingdoms: Aragon and Castile, the defense of a border
• Route: The diffusion of Gothic art
• Route: The expansion of civil architecture
• Route: The Carlist Corridors
• Ruta de los Castillos de Teruel y el Valle del Jiloca
• Nogueta River Route
• Civil War Route in the Jiloca
• Bea botanical route
• Route: By the high mountains of Fonfría
• Jiloca River Route
• Route of the Wetlands
• Route of the Chopo Cabecero
• Alto Huerva and Alto Aguasvivas Route
• Ruta Peracense - Laguna de Gallocanta

The regional institution of the Comarca del Jiloca has a tourist portal for the region. For its part, the Jiloca Study Center has a section on its website with the main tourist routes through Jiloca.

Nature

The nature of the Jiloca Region is basically conditioned by the weather and relief. The Jiloca valley is, in the Spanish context, a cool and somewhat dry area. Regarding the relief, although it is integrated into the Iberian mountain range and the average altitude is notable, the slopes are gentle.

Another very notable influence on the nature of the region has been the intervention of man. Inhabited since ancient times, its landscapes are the result of human activity carried out from agriculture and livestock for centuries.

The end result is very interesting. Plains, moors, hills and mountains, meadows and fields form a set of great beauty. Fragments of the primitive forests, various wetlands, moors, bushes, rocks, drylands and cultivated orchards form a whole mosaic capable of bringing together a great variety of plants and animals. The Gallocanta lagoon, on one of its banks, is one of the last great stages of Western Europe. All this within the reach of the naturalist and the traveler.

Natural spaces

Eyes of Monreal

We find numerous natural spaces that are remarkable for their flora and fauna. The students of the Calamocha High School, in an interesting multimedia work awarded by Educared, have highlighted various natural spaces located in the Jiloca region:

• La Laguna de Gallocanta
• The White Paramera
• The Lomas de Corbatón
• The Modorra de Cucalón y Modorra de Bádenas
• The Nogueta Valley
• El Monte de San Ginés
• Arguilay and Los Tenajos ravines in Castejón
• Monreal Field Eyes and Rifa Eyes (Caminreal)

As redoubts of the ancient and extensive autochthonous forests of the Jiloca Valley, with an important botanical wealth, the following stand out:

• The Knowings of Blondeelos de la Cérida
• La Chopera del Puente de San Miguel (Torre los Negros)
• The Vellanar of El Colladico

Bea Rebollar

In the extensive Sierra de Fonfría, in the area of conservation established by the LIC, several natural spaces can be highlighted:

• Bea Rebollar
• Rebollar de Fonfría
• Marojal de Pelarda
• Pinar de Cañamadera (Torrecilla del Rebollar)
• Sabinar de Olalla

Areas of geological interest

The Government of Aragon completed in 1995 the first inventory of Points of Geological Interest (PIG) of the Aragonese territory, whose objective was to deepen the knowledge of the geological heritage, provide the necessary protection and highlight its educational and scientific value.

Within the geological and mining heritage of the Jiloca Region, several natural spaces can be highlighted:

• Alluvial fan of Sierra Palomera
• Black Eye Mines
• Rodeno de Peracense
• Black Eye Salts
• Megaplanolites de Bueña
• Yesos del Pancrudo
• Blonde of the Cérida
• Volcanic rocks of Loscos
• Chevrons de la Sierra de Oriche
• Sinclinal de Bádenas
• Karst de Piedrahita

Protection figures

The protection of the environment conditions especially the life circumstances of people or society in their lives. It includes the set of natural, social and cultural values existing in a place and at a certain time, which influence the life of the human being and future generations. In other words, it is not only about the space in which life develops but also includes living beings, objects, water, soil, air and the relationships between them, as well as intangible elements such as culture.

Public administrations have tried in recent years to delimit natural environments with a high natural, social and cultural value. At the moment, the only protected natural area in the Jiloca Region is the Gallocanta Lagoon Wildlife Refuge, although other areas have been included in the Natura 2000 Network, such as Sites of Community Interest (SCI) and Special Protection Areas for birds (ZEPAS).

Currently, the Government of Aragon is working on an inventory of Wetlands, although it is unknown at the moment what type of protection they will assume. Another protected element in Aragon are the unique trees.

Naturalists

In the Jiloca Valley, the following naturalists should be highlighted for their contributions to the dissemination and protection of nature, as well as their promotion among the youngest.

• Jaime Lorén, Chabier
• Serrano Bella, Ricardo
• Cereza Abadías, José María
• Pérez Grijalvo, Rodrigo

Culture

Museums

The museums of the Jiloca Region preserve and exhibit archaeological, artistic or ethnological pieces. In addition, in Monreal del Campo the policy of itinerant exhibitions is practiced.

The main museum of the Jiloca Region is the Saffron Museum, in Monreal del Campo, linked to the Monreal del Campo Town Hall.

Most of the rest of the museographic establishments that exist in the region are linked to the exhibition, more or less permanent, of a collection formed by an individual throughout his life. Normally these are museums of old professions, exposing the pieces and tools used. For this reason, these museums are usually private and their opening to the public is limited, making it essential to make an appointment. Of them, it is worth highlighting the following:

• Honey Museum (Báguena)
• Wine museum (San Martín del Río)
• Pinacoteca del Centro de Estudios del Jiloca

On the other hand, at the end of the XX century, related interpretation centers began to become popular in the Jiloca region with a specific theme, which could be cultural, natural, archaeological, bibliographical, etc. These are installations that show fictitious, audiovisual and copies of pieces organized in a very educational way. They are ideal for visits from schools or families.

To make the Center attractive, a strong investment is necessary, in addition to having a sufficient staff to open the facilities, explain the center and organize parallel activities. For this reason, the existing centers in the Jiloca Region are publicly owned, managed by the Government of Aragon and the Caminreal City Council:

• Centro de Interpretación de la Laguna de Gallocanta, located in the town of Bello.
• Centro de interpretación de la Cultura Romana, located next to the ruins of the Roman city of Caminreal.

Gastronomy

Jiloca's cuisine is an eminently traditional cuisine that has known how to take advantage of local products.

Teruel ham is undoubtedly the best-known product of the region, which extends throughout the province of Teruel and is protected by the Regulatory Council of Denomination of Origin.

In the recipe book of typical dishes, we find varied and tasty combinations, such as: farinetas with torreznos, white beans from la vega with hare, pepitoria, migas de pastor with pito gato, eggs in salmorejo, scrambled Calamocha mushrooms with wild corn and prawns, rabbits and Calamocha mushrooms with wild corn and prawns, marinated rabbits and quails, lamb stew, lamb trotters with tomato, roast lamb, Aragonese fritada and an endless length of simple but pleasant recipes flavor.

It is also worth highlighting the preserves in oil (loin, ribs and sausages or the famous ham in wine.

The rebollones deserve special attention, very abundant in these mountains, and which are the object of a claim for many people who come in search of them from distant lands.

It is also interesting the rich honey made by hand.

Lastly, note its exquisite sweets and desserts. Famous are, among others, the sanroquicos from Calamocha, the hemp cake from Monreal del Campo, the arabesque almojábanas, the mantecados, the tortas, the donuts, the escaldas and the fried milk.

Land and population