8. Belchite

This the picture of the village at Belchite. Taken from: www.turismodezaragoza.es

The eighth top most visited cities in Spain that im going to tell you is the cities named Belchite. In the south of Spain, there are two villages named Belchite sitting side by side. One is a ghost town which was ruined during Spain’s Civil War and it has left untouched as a reminder of the destruction wreaked across the country. Meanwhile, another town is home to about 1600 people.

The Spanish Civil War was one of the most turbulent and tragic periods in Spain’s recent history. This makes the ruins of Belchite, a town destroyed during the conflict, all the more somber. As vividly represented by Picasso in his masterpiece Guernica, the Spanish Civil War witnessed the first deliberate mass aerial bombings of civilian towns and cities and Belchite is a memorial to this destruction. Located next to a modern town of the same name, the ghost town contains a series of eerie structures, including several churches and a convent - all that is left of this utter destruction. Not one of the most glamorous tourist attractions of Spain, it is nevertheless one of the most poignant, important and though-provoking.

The picture of the instructure of buildings in Belchite. Taken from : www.ranimirum.com

The attractions in Belchite

It is close to walking straight into the devastation brought by war, except that it is eerily quiet and the grass growing amongst the ruins has replaced the smoke and smouldering.

It probably used to be even eerier when you were still allowed to wander around this ghost town on your own and at your own pace. But since 2014, this has changed and you now have to go on a guided tour. NOTE: there is no longer any access for individual visitors wanting to see the place independently! But the good news is that the guided tours are really quite good and informative.

Before entering the destroyed village as such you are invited to explore the mini museum that is housed upstairs inside the gatehouse. The “exhibition” consists of only a few text-and-photo panels (all in Spanish) and I thought it felt rather improvised and unfinished. Maybe the latter is actually the case and it's still being developed. So in future there may be more to be gained from this museum. Some of the historical photos of the town before its destruction were quite interesting.

How to get to Belchite?

It is located at some 30 miles (50 km) south of Zaragoza, in north-eastern Spain. If you get there by car, you have to follow the A68/N232 from Zaragoza then turn right onto the A222, Belchite and follow the road into the town., follow the, The ruins are on the outskirts of the modern town.