The castle of Bubierca

"Then he passed Bubierca, and Ateca, which is farther on / Then mío Cid camped near Alcocer". One of the stages of this literary route, which takes tourists along the places mentioned in El Cantar de Mío Cid, is Bubierca, through which El Cid and his men passed on the sixteenth day of exile. It is very likely that the much reduced garrison that the Moors had set up at the small fortress situated on top of the hill of Bubierca was not at ease when its members saw El Cid and his men pass by.

The traces of the castle are now almost non-existent, because the chapel of San Miguel was erected on the hill in the 15th century. It is known that it had a square base, it was enclosed with mud walls and it was 5 metres long. It also had buttresses angling up at the hillside. The castle occupied a magnificent site and the fortress seems to have been designed to fit into the shape of the hill: there are wall remains and stone pavements. It is worth walking up to the chapel: silence dominates. A rich meadow, used for intensive farming, commands our view. El Cid’s presence must have caused restlessness among the people of the area.

Rev. PAB 27.12.18