Zorita de los Canes Last Updated : 2005-10-08 14:16:39 (765 reads) A little, walled village on a meander in the River Tagus, in the south-east of the province of Guadalajara, Zorita de los Canes is not, technically part of the Alcarria region, or at least does not appear on any map of the Alcarria I have seen. But it is not a distinction worth making, and you would probably see Zorita on a visit to the Alcarria. Notwithstanding its present diminuteness (pop. of the entire borough 103) Zorita was once a town of some importance, a villa in Spanish. Its most outstanding feature is its ruined 10th-century, hilltop castle. This was originally an Arab fortification, taken from them in 1085, and for a time was the headquarters of the Knights of Calatrava, a powerful, religious (Cistercian) military order: the Romanesque church where the warrior monks worshipped is one of its most remarkable elements. The Calatravans used mastiffs in their defence of the castle, which is why de los Canes was added to the Zorita which the Moors had called the town. The most obvious route up to the castle zig-zags up the hill behind the town, past the tempting posada rural or country inn, becoming more hemmed in by walls and towers as it nears the castle itself. The main gate has a Gothic arch, behind which is an older, horseshoe-shaped, Moorish arch, while inside, the castle is a gorgeous mess of crumbling walls, fallen arches and towers. You will see how the other way into the castle would have been nearly impenetrable. The way into the main fortress from its own patio de armas (a courtyard used as parade ground) was protected by a moat carved out of the rock, which would have had to be crossed by a drawbridge. And before getting that far, any intruders would have had to pass through the southern entrance, overlooked by imposing walls and a massive albarrana tower (separate from the actual castle, connected to it by an arch), from which arrows, stones and the rest of the panoply of mediaeval weapons could have been showered down on them. The views from the castle are splendid and, when you have taken them and it in, you will want to wander around the village as you descend but, let's face it, there is not a great deal of it to explore. Back at the bottom of the hill, where you probably left your car, there is a picnic area and a bar next to the river, which obligingly also provides ducks to watch or feed, and when you are suitably refreshed, you might want to move on to the archaeological site of the Visigothic city of Recópolis, on a hill overlooking Zorita called the Cerro de Oliva. You can drive round to Recópolis, or you can get there by camino medieval, an old road (now a path) on which marks left by mediaeval wagons are supposed to be visible in places.