Teruel

Teruel (teˈɾwel) is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with a wide daily variation on temperatures and its renowned jamón serrano (cured ham), its pottery, its surrounding archaeological sites, rock outcrops containing some of the oldest dinosaur remains of the Iberian Peninsula, and its famous events: La Vaquilla del Ángel during the weekend (Friday to Monday) closest to 10 July and "Bodas de Isabel de Segura" around the third weekend of February. Teruel is regarded as the "town of mudéjar" (Moorish-influenced architecture) due to numerous buildings designed in this style. All of them are comprised in the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon which is a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. Teruel's remote and mountainous location above sea level and its low population has led to relative isolation within Spain. A campaign group with the slogan Teruel existe ("Teruel exists") was founded in 1999 to press for greater recognition and investment in the town and the province. Due in part to the campaign, transport connections to Teruel were improved with the construction of a motorway between Zaragoza and Sagunto. However, Teruel remains the only provincial capital in peninsular Spain without a direct road or railway link to the national capital, Madrid. A running joke in the Spanish online satirical publication El Mundo Today is that Teruel does not exist. The area around Teruel has been populated since the times of the Celtiberians, who called it Turboleta. The place-name Turboleta could come from the Basque-Iberian term itur + olu + eta (place of the water source, spring), according to the theory of Basque-Iberism. The area was later occupied by the Romans, who left remains in nearby towns, such as Cella. Some authors claim that in the location of the current city of Teruel (specifically its Jewish quarter) was originally called Tirwal, a name that would have come from the Arabic word meaning "tower.