Alquézar, castle, collegiate church and medieval villa perch proudly above the River Vero canyon, in wildly beautiful surroundings that form part of the Sierra de Guara Mountains and Canyons National Park and the River Vero Cultural Park.

The unique landscape reflects a world of rock and water and hides deep chasms that are home to a variety of flora and fauna. Towers and fortified walls; chapels and traditional architecture; ice wells and cave paintings; legends of maidens, wanderers and Moorish kings; hiking routes, rock climbing and adventure sports and the mythical descent of the River Vero are all to be found in and around Alquézar.

Alquézar celebrates a Crafts Fair on the last sunday of July.

Its summer fiestas are held on the 12th of August in honour of San Hipólito. 

The village of Artasona belongs to the municipal council of El Grado and stands on a fluvial terrace on the left bank of the River Cinca. The bulk of an old castle is the most noticeable feature of the compact and variegated urban centre.

Between the 15th and 16th centuries a particular typology of castle construction was common in the region. It brought together civil and defensive elements and gave rise to fortified palaces, which extended over the lands of the gentry. They were huge and important structures, which usually had a square layout with towers at each corner and large rooms typical of a palace. Some of these were adapted to store firearms or artillery.

Their principal objective was the defence and immediate control of the possessions of the marquisate. The 16th century presented a particularly tumultuous panorama as there were many confrontations between villagers and nobility over local resources such as land, water, mountains and pasture.

On the 20th January the traditional San Fabían Bonfire takes place. The villagers join together to burn “bad winds” and also hold an informal auction. They bid for objects donated by families that are usually quite deceptive in appearance! 

Asque belongs to the municipal council of Colungo and is located at the heart of the River Vero Natural Park and deep in the Sierra de Guara mountains.

Its attractive parish church, dedicated to Santa Columba, was constructed around 1885 following the aesthetic norms of the Neo-Gothic style. The interior of the church has one nave with four sections covered with pointed barrel vaults. The west end exterior wall made with stone ashlars also displays Gothic features such as the rose window.

Asque is the perfect starting point from which to discover the rock shelter of Regacens, which boast pre-historic cave paintings and is within easy reach of Alquézar. 

Asque is connected with the nearby village of Colungo by means of the Devil’s Bridge. 

The municipal council of Hoz-Costean is made up of Montesa, Hoz de Barbastro, Salinas de Hoz, Costean and Guardia (uninhabited) all of which are located in the environs of the mountains known as the Sierra de Salinas.

Man-made terraces have taken slices from the slopes of the mountains to create places that were traditionally planted with olive and almond trees. The surrounding plains have more recently been planted with great swathes of vineyards, although the olive trees continue to provide work and wealth for the inhabitants of the area.

As in almost all the villages at the foot of the mountains, the ground here has a rocky composition. For this reason it was preferable to build the houses using masonry made up of uncut stones, in the same state as when they were taken from the ground; irregular and of different shapes.

The narrow, steep streets lead to the parish church of Santa Maria Magdalena. It was built in the Baroque style, taking advantage of part of the structure of a previous temple. This is evident in the east-facing wall of the west end of the church, which is though to have belonged to the original east end.

Despite the small size, the modesty of the materials used in its construction and the low-key character of the decoration, the church is a great example of rural Baroque from the 18th century.