I strayed well outside the part of Spain that I am familiar with, when I visited Batea and the old town's main plaza (top right) gave me no hint that I would  find myself wandering around a network of quaint old side streets where some of the houses are built on top of  arches that bridge the ancient streets. I went back for my camera!

There were dates on the outside of some of these old houses and they seem to go back to the seventeenth century. The wooden beams (left) support the ceiling of the arches; no attempt has been made to choose timbers of approximately the same dimensions!

This may not look much like a main street, but it is what passes for one. It's a little wider and the arches are either side of the road and these provide sheltered footways either side of the road. There are some steep hills in the old town and they culminate in an upper, smaller and older plaza (below) that is within some very sturdy-looking city walls.

Quite why the side streets had these houses on top of arches that crossed the street wasn't obvious. I am forced to conclude that they are either a defence measure of a way of adding to the dwelling space inside the confines of the original city walls. I managed to get some photos inside a couple of the churches and these are on the next page.