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

The Night of San Juan Festival

The festival of San Juan takes place on 23rd June and is celebrated in many countries around the world. According to Wikipedia, it’s a day for recognising the birth of Saint John the Baptist, but in Valencia we were told that it’s a celebration of the start of summer; a time for people to welcome in the new season and to wish for good fortune in the second half of the year.

The festival is celebrated all over Spain in varying ways, but usually involving a bonfire. Along the Mediterranean coast, celebrations take place on the beaches, starting in the evening and continuing well into the next morning. In Valencia, tens of thousands of people set up camp on the many beaches, securing their spots early, and digging large, round pits. These pits soon become fires and shortly after become barbecues.

On our way to the beach we saw people carrying big sacks of wood, and the aroma of smoke and food hit our nostrils the moment we got off the tram. I was unsure what to expect. The last beach party I went to of this scale was the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan when I was twenty. I imagined this wouldn’t be as crazy…but I was wrong. It was a different type of crazy, but crazy nonetheless. To sum it up succinctly, it was a family friendly Full Moon Party.

The groups that gathered around their fire pits BBQ'd the night away, enjoying the delicious food and each other’s company. There were toddlers and kids running around and going into the sea; drunk youths and older folks alike, all in varying states of disorderliness. Eighteen-year-olds took the opportunity to celebrate the end of exams by burning their unneeded textbooks. Katie even joined some girls and helped them burn their English textbooks. Is that like a priest burning a bible? No, it’s not! Our two guests, Anya and Charlotte, had just finished their A-level exams, so they shared the same sentiment and metaphorically burnt their books that night as well.

Of course there were some fireworks (it's Valencia after all!) and a few little Fallas-like structures being burnt. But the main event of the festival took place at midnight, in the sea. Although people were enjoying the sea the whole night, at the stroke of midnight it got serious. Big groups ran into the sea and jumped over waves, making a wish with each wave. No-one was really sure how many waves to jump over (three, seven, or nine?) so we just made sure we did an odd number and hoped for the best! The Mediterranean is very warm in June and it was refreshing on such a warm, smokey evening.

It was an unusual event and I think the best way to enjoy the festival would be with a big group, a fire pit with food, and hundreds of chilled beers. We had a good time though - the four of us with beer, but not enough food for my liking.

We know better for next year…

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

One Night in Barca!

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame was touring around the world and stopping off in Barcelona as part of his “Us and Them” tour. Katie's brother James and his girlfriend Emily were coming to Valencia for a little weekend away and these two events coincided, resulting in something magical.

We planned to go to Barcelona for the night and watch the gig before heading back the next day. It would be a flying visit to this city, which Katie and I have yet to explore together, but we were determined to make the most of it.

The journey up the coast is a long one, especially if you don’t want to pay for the toll roads (roughly €40), and it took around five hours in total. This included a stop off at the recently blogged about Peñíscola to show James and Emily one of our new favourite places.

After spending sometime enjoying this beautiful town, we carried on up the coast to the Catalonian capital. We didn’t have long in the city and the lads were spending the evening at the gig, while the girls were drinking wine and eating tapas.

Em and I went with the boys to an area near the gig venue, called Poble Sec. I’d read that this was a good part of the city to spend an evening, with lots of small bars offering up cheap wine and even cheaper little bites to eat called pintxos (pronounced pin-chos). I’ll talk more about pintxos when I write about our recent trip up north to Bilbao and Asturias, but in short, pintxos are small bites of food served on a slice of baguette, secured with a toothpick. They can cost anywhere from €1.50 to €2.50 each and make a great accompaniment to a nice glass of wine or vermut.

Anyway, Em and I got dressed up and had a great night, slowly working our way through the various bars in the area, before the boys came to join us for a bottle of prosecco and a rather posh cocktail after their gig. I had a wonderful evening with Emily and I hope we can replicate it in Valencia when they come back in November.

After a pretty decent burger for dinner, James and I made our way to the gig. It was at the Palau Sant Jordi, built for the 1992 Olympics, in what is now quite a serene and pretty area. It was the perfect venue for the gig and we had great seats; back row on the highest tier, close to the stage. This isn't sarcasm, they really were great seats. But I imagine every seat was that night, as the gig was a spectacle like no other.

Roger Waters knows how to put on a show with lights, balloons, and mechanical contraptions, making it an incredible visual display. And then there's the music. The classic Pink Floyd tunes were unbelievable live. It was the second time I have seen him and it was no less enchanting this time. It's very difficult to put into words the sensations I felt during and after the gig. I was truly buzzing with excitement and glee, as was James. We both knew we had seen something extraordinary. Writing this now brings back a shadow of the sensation and even that is enough to put a wide smile on my face. I have to rate his show as one of the best events I have ever been to. The guy is a legend and his gigs are legendary for a reason.

James and I left the arena and we were like two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl…words fail me. Go see him if you can. I really wish other artists could put on a show like that…I really wish I could see him perform every week.

The next 12 hours were like a dream and involved driving back down the coast to Valencia. We stopped in a town called Cambrils for lunch, which was decent. It was a whirlwind visit to Barcelona and my mind felt like a delightful tornado had passed through it.

Until next time, adios!

Cambrils is quite a busy seaside town and was a good place to rest a bit before driving the final leg home.