What you can see on the Aínsa webcams
In the old town, the camera looks along the cobbled Plaza Mayor between its two rows of arcaded stone houses, with café tables and parasols under the arches and the castle walls closing the far end. From a hotel in the lower town, another looks up across the river woods to the old town on its ridge, with the church tower standing above the roofs. The third looks over the roofs and fields to the Peña Montañesa, which often wears a cap of cloud. In summer the square fills with people from late morning; in winter it is quiet and the mountain often turns white.
Aínsa's arcaded Plaza Mayor
This camera looks along the whole length of the Plaza Mayor of Aínsa, the large medieval square of the old town. On both sides, two-storey stone houses stand on round arches, with café tables and white parasols under them; the cobbled square runs to the far end, where the walls of the castle and a big tree close the view, and behind them rise the hills and mountains of the Sobrarbe.
It shows how busy the square is, whether the terraces are open and how the sun falls across the stones. In winter it is often empty and sometimes white. It comes through Windy as a time-lapse of the day.
The old town on its hill, from the lower town
From a hotel in the newer part of Aínsa, this camera looks up to the old town on its ridge. In the foreground are the roofs of the lower town and a row of poplars along the river; in the middle, a block of flats; above them, on the skyline, the long line of stone houses of the old town with the tower of its church, and mountains behind.
It gives the view that greets drivers arriving from the south, and shows the light on the old walls in the evening and the clouds over the mountains. It comes through Windy as a time-lapse of the day.
Peña Montañesa from Aínsa
This camera looks north-east over a rooftop in Aínsa to the Peña Montañesa, the highest part of the Sierra Ferrera, a huge limestone wall that dominates this part of the Sobrarbe. In front are green fields and a wooded hill; the great rock rises behind them, and often has a band of cloud wrapped round its top.
It is the camera for the mountain weather: whether the summit is clear, in cloud or white with snow, and how the clouds build over it on summer afternoons. It comes through Windy as a time-lapse of the day.
A medieval town on a hilltop
The whole old town of Aínsa has been a listed historic ensemble since 1965. It is laid out along two almost parallel streets that end in the Plaza Mayor, and beyond the square stands the castle, with its walls around a wide esplanade. Next to it, a small 17th-century shrine, the Cruz Cubierta, marks the spot where, according to legend, a cross of fire appeared over an oak tree before a battle against the Moors; the cross and tree are still on the town's coat of arms.
When to watch Aínsa
Aínsa is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland. The square faces along its length to the castle, so the morning light comes from one end and the evening light from the other. Summer days are hot in the valley, with storms building over the mountains in the afternoon. In winter, the view of the Peña Montañesa shows whether snow has fallen on the higher ground.
Around Aínsa
Aínsa is the crossroads of the Sobrarbe. To the north-west, the Ara valley leads to Broto, Torla and the Ordesa National Park; to the north, the Cinca valley leads to Bielsa, the Pineta valley and the tunnel to France. The Mediano reservoir lies just to the south, and the Sierra de Guara canyons a little further.
Visiting Aínsa
The nearest airport with flights from the UK is Toulouse, about 142 miles (228 km) away through the Bielsa tunnel, around three and a quarter hours by car. Barcelona is about 172 miles (276 km). The old town is closed to most traffic, so park in the lower town and walk up.
