A Tale of Two Castles

One day we set out on a drive

And headed south, towards blue skies.

Atop a hill we spied a castle

Thanks to the car, we arrived without hassle.

Xàtiva is the fortress’ name

Where Romans stood and laid their claim.

With gardens green and pools of blue

It was a special place. That much we knew.

On to Sagunto! David cried

As we headed north, close to the tide.

Again we climbed up rather high

My legs grew weary, I cannot lie.

Yet once again it was worth the struggle,

Though this castle was little more than rubble.

But the views from the top were a sight to behold

Green hills, blue seas and sands of gold.

Spain is full of castles. Thousands of them, in varying degrees of ruin, are scattered around the country and, while the city of Valencia itself doesn’t have one, there are quite a few within day-tripping distance. Today I’m writing about two of them - Castell de Xàtiva and Castillo de Sagunto.

Xàtiva

We stopped at this castle on our way back from visiting my uncle in Torrevieja. It’s about an hour’s drive from Valencia centre and well worth a visit if you have the time. It’s location atop a jagged hill makes for a very striking sight as you approach from below, and once you’re up there you can see for miles.

Apparently this castle is located in a very strategic position, on an ancient road leading from Rome, across the Pyrenees, and down the Mediterranean coast to Cádiz.

The castle grounds are long and narrow, stretching across two peaks of the hill. This means there’s quite a bit of climbing involved in the visit, but the gardens, water features and well-preserved fortifications are worth a bit of effort.

When you've gotta go, you've gotta go!

Sagunto

Closer to the coast than Xàtiva, this castle offers something different in terms of views. Also set on a hilltop, this fortress dates back thousands of years, to when the town had a rather amusing name – Arse!

I must admit that, while it is conveniently located just half an hour from Valencia, this castle isn’t quite as worth visiting as Xàtiva. It’s much more of a ruin and there is little in the way of plaques or information about where you are and what you’re looking at.

Still, we had the place to ourselves when we visited, which was a welcome bit of peace after the manic morning we'd had at Tomatina (blog post coming soon!) and we very much enjoyed the views and sea breeze.

Ruta De Los Calderones - Chulilla

As we mentioned in our last post about the San Juan festival in Valencia, my cousin Anya and her friend Charlotte came to stay after their A-Level exams. We had an absolutely raucous time celebrating with them, doing all sorts of wild things like going for hikes and lying on the beach. Boy, do we know how to party! 

I feel as thirty-year-olds, the burning fire of crazy youth has dwindled to smouldering embers that require a lot of work to stoke back to that level of youthful craziness. 

Although it wasn't too crazy, we did have a really nice time (and hopefully they did too!) One of the days we rented a car to explore some of the countryside around the city. Our first stop was a town called Chulilla, which had been recommended to me by a colleague as a good place for a nice walk. And it was! We parked up, picked a direction and started walking. Pretty early into the walk we got a lovely view of a ravine, and spotted some little deer down at the bottom!

The day was hot and there was no shade on the hike, so we took it easy and the girls were very vigilant with their sun cream. After a while we came to a suspension bridge, which Anya and I were a little nervous about crossing. But we did it! And then tried not to think too much about having to do it again on the way back…

After an hour, we came across a lovely little clearing with a bridge across the stream, where Dave and Charlotte had a paddle to cool off. Then we turned around and made our way back, as our water supplies were running low and we forgot to nominate a hydration captain for the day! After the near-death-by-dehydration experience on a hike earlier this year, we've decided a hydration captain is essential whenever we're out of the house.

Back at the car we rehydrated and enjoyed our packed lunches before heading into the town of Chulilla. We attempted to make our way to the castle but were thwarted by the insanely narrow roads and maze-like one-way system. This has become a reoccurring problem when driving through small towns with castles on hilltops. The roads were designed for little horses, not rental cars with little horsepower and large excesses.

After agreeing that returning the rental car un-ruined was more important that seeing the castle ruins, we left Chulilla (which is very quaint) and headed further west. We enjoyed the views as we drove around the hills and sandy, dry fields. Then we came across an incredible reservoir and dam in a place called Benagéber. The views were pretty impressive and we stopped for a while to take it all in.

Once we’d had our fill of the vista we headed back towards Valencia, stopping briefly in Chelva. We thought there might be a nice walk to be had around the Ruta del Agua area, but either we were in the wrong place, or it just didn’t seem impressive enough to our tired eyes. Regardless, we found a picnic bench and enjoyed the excuse to stop and have an ice lolly.

It was a lovely day and, while the landscape around Valencia isn’t my favourite, I’m definitely growing accustomed to the less lush, less green nature and learning to appreciate it for what it is. And it’s not half bad.

The dam and reservoir in Benagéber

Ruta de los Aguas in Chelva

A Road Trip South of Valencia

Katie's uncle, Graeme, is lucky enough to own a property south of Valencia, closer to Alicante, in a town called Torrevieja. We went to visit him there earlier in the year and made road trip out of it (map here), heading south from Valencia along the coast, making some scenic stops on the way there and back.

Our first stop was at Xativa castle, but going to gloss over it here as we'll talk in more detail in a later post. But let's just say it was a delightful place to visit.

We then stopped at Pozas Pou Clar where there are some lovely ponds, lakes and picnic areas, making it a perfect place to stop and eat our packed lunches. The bright blue waters and surrounding greenery made this a worthwhile stop and one we enjoyed a lot, despite the long staircase to get down to see it.

After our sarnies we jumped back in the car and headed through Parc Natural de la Serra de Mariola. It was a pretty enough drive on a decent enough road, but we didn't come across any outstanding views.

Our next stop was Bocairent, which is a pretty little town that gave us coffee and a view of some awesome caves. Our timing was a little off and the caves were closed so we only got to see them from a distance. We'll definitely be back for further exploration later though.

You can see all of the little cave openings hiding in the wall there

When we finally arrived in Torrevieja, we spent the evening socialising, drinking, and BBQing with Katie's uncle and his friends. Torrevieja is relaxing and charming, and FULL of British expats!

The next day, with uncle Graeme on board, we were back on the road. We drove even further south to a lighthouse called Faro Cabo de Palos, which is on the south-east tip of Spain. It's a cool sight and you can get up close and personal to take in the surrounding seaside view.

We then drove all the way up this tiny narrow stretch of land close to the lighthouse, with sea on one side and a lagoon on the other. It was very pretty with some good views, albeit considerably more built up than we expected, with huge hotels and apartment blocks on nearly all of the available land. 

We concluded that it must have expanded during the housing boom 10+ years ago and has seemingly now suffered the fate of many Spanish towns, with mostly empty tower blocks and hotels. Still, it was a nice place to stop and have a beer and an ice cream.

Before heading back to Torrevieja, we made one last stop in a town called Cartagena. This town is flooded with Roman ruins and we didn't spent enough time there to really do it justice. There was a lot to see and it reminded us of Tarragona in many ways, but much further south of course. It's definitely worth a visit if you're nearby.

The next day we said farewell to Graeme and drove back to Valencia via a couple of places. One was an interesting salt lake called Les Salinetes De Novelda. This was just off the motorway and and appeared to have some more Roman ruins that were being excavated.

Our final stop on this trip was at Villena. This small town had a stunning panoramic view of the surrounding hills and picturesque castle. Again, worth a stop if you're driving past.

This was a whirlwind visit to the south of the Valencian county, and we'll be going back for sure. Partly because we didn't take any 360 footage, but also because we enjoyed it so much.

Hasta luego!

A weird house in Bocairent

 

Ruins in Cartagena

Enjoying a cheeky tapa and tiny beer

 

 

 

Les Salinetes De Novelda

Villena Castle