42 METRO Monday, September 21, 2015

Escape

Travel | Culture | Adventure

shh... this is silent spain

Matarraa is a super-secluded
version of Tuscany. Get there
quick, before new flights put it on
the map, says Richard Mellor

Happy valley: La Torre

del Visco hotel left
our man in good spirits

getting
there

Double rooms at
Torre del Visco
(torredelvisco.
com) from 140.
Ryanair (ryanair.
com) has return
flights from
Stansted or Bristol
to Castelln
from 36
during autumn.

NB ILLusTRaTIoN/scoTT Jessop

he best bit about obscure

Matarraa is not the hill
towns, the 15th-century
palaces converted into
hotels, the river pools or the
waterfalls. Its the lack of tourists.
It is estimated that a not-sowhopping 1,050 international
visitors arrived in Matarraa in
Aragon last year: incredible
compared with the 15million Britons
who visited Spain and its islands.
Meanwhile, Tuscany, an area to
which Matarraa has been compared
to given its geography, beauty and
slow pace, was overrun with
43.4million international visitors.
This summer, while sun-seeking Brits
packed Spains east coast beaches,
Matarraa sat almost in silence.
So why are the numbers so tiny?
Not due to a lack of appeal but more
to do with Matarraas remoteness
in mainland european terms: this
comarca has no motorways, train
stations or airports. The nearest flight
from Britain lands in Barcelona
meaning a three-hour vroom past
poppy fields and lonely fincas but
this month new Ryanair services to
Castelln will shave two hours off
the drive time.
Matarraa is a mere speck in
eastern Spain, sat about 20 miles
inland from the Mediterranean and
close to the Catalan border, with a
dramatic landscape of forested valleys
and farms. In the north sit vineyards
and peach orchards while almond
groves and barley fields sit further
south. Crowded it is not.
Take my 14-bedroom hotel, La
Torre del Visco, which doubles as an
organic farm and was described in last
months Spanish Vogue as another
place to be alongside the unique
hotel Consolacin (see box, below).
The turreted 15th-century house
turned luxury residence is squirrelled
away down a hairpin-happy track and
buried within 220 acres of land. Such
seclusion is matched only by the
glorious valley vistas, best seen from
various terraces or the new pool.
I also anticipate silence but nature has
other ideas, providing a near-constant
soundtrack thanks to mating frogs,
excitedly reconvening sparrows,
a sleepy cuckoo and the distant,
babbling Rio Tastavins.
And its to these waters I immediately
stroll, having been tipped off by
Torre del Visco staff about a wildswimming spot. Matarraa might
lack a coastline but bathing
options are still numerous, with
its waterways affording a series of
gentle pools. Mine and its all mine,
not a soul around is a peaceful basin
eddied from the main current and
neither too deep nor too shallow. The

water is cold, but refreshingly so.

Afterwards, I sun myself on broad,
flat rocks, thumbing through a
paperback while inhaling wafts of
wild rosemary.
Plum in the middle of Matarraa,
La Torre del Visco also makes an
ideal base for photography trips. And
for cookery courses. And for cheesetasting, stargazing, birdwatching,
horse-riding... all these and more can

be arranged by the hotels superb

english owner, Jemma Markham.
For me, Jemma sorts a bicycle
excursion along La Via Verde,
a former railroad turned 22-mile
greenway. Im dropped off and
collected by car at either end; in
between I pedal lazily and relish
the breeze and bucolic vibe.
The two-wheeling is fun, but the
two-footing is glorious. Matarraas

C h I C S L e e P W H E R E T O STAY
Matarraas unique hotels
contribute to its simple beauty
and teruels Hotel Consolacin,
formed of a cluster of individual
wooden cubes and an 18th
century hermitage, is one of the
more stand-out options.
these 11 cubes are formed of
three walls and one floor-toceiling glass window and
contain black slate sunken

baths, open fires and rain

showers. You wont find a
television in your room but you
wont miss it youll be too busy
staring at the wild views of the
pine forest and mountains.
the centuries-old main
building, now a glossy mix of
concrete, metal and glass, is
where you can eat and drink local
produce including mushrooms

and truffles that you can forage

for yourself with the head chef.
Keep yourself busy with one
of their workshops: last month,
the hotel invited a Barcelonabased meteorologist to teach the
guests about the new moon and
the star constellations.
From 127 per night,
consolacion.com.es

eastern perimeter is the els Ports

park, with block-shaped peaks
that inspired Picassos cubism.
Walking options include el Parrizal,
a path tracking the Rio Matarraa up
to its source. As maple trees provide
speckled shade, the twisting gorge
gradually ascends. Its enchantingly
beautiful, and exhilarating to hike:
at times, the route consists of wide
wooden planks, chained on to the

Serene dream:
Rio Tastavins provides
isolated spots to swim in

cliff and elevated just above the

river; at others, its choose your
own stepping-stone crossings or
log bridges.
I spy lots of fish, only to consume
their relatives later that night.
I also devour almond soups and
pressed veal cheeks in small, proud
cantinas. But my favourite foods are
served at La Torre del Viscos
breakfasts: platters of cured hams,
cheeses, homemade lemon curd,
eggs, quince jelly and hot tomato
bread. The coffee is strong and
the days stretch ahead, rich with
potential adventure.
For all that potential, my favourite
Matarraa moment is spent doing
precisely nada. Draped across an
L-shaped sofa on the main balcony,
I nurse a fish bowl-sized G&T and
gaze down the sunset-lit valley.
A tractor chugs somewhere. A bee
buzzes gently by. The cuckoo
pipes up again.
Mellower now, I sigh and try to
remember when I was last this happy.