 |
| Peniscola from the top of the castle |
To earn our lunch we got the bikes out and cycled to Benicarlo for a look round. An interesting enough town, but nothing particularly exciting. We got our few bits of shopping which we dropped off back at Ted before cycling back into Peniscola, much quicker than walking and it’s all lovely and flat. Lunch was fabulous, mussels and fried fish followed by a paella. A bottle of wine to wash it all down while sitting outside in the sunshine. Fabulous. Here's another short 'Relive' video with photos of our bike ride: click here
 |
| And here's the castle from Peniscola beach. The castle was built by The Knights Templar between the years 1294 and 1307 and, since then has withstood all manner of sieges, attacks and bombardments over the centuries, including the War of the Spanish Succession in the 18th century, the Peninsular war against the French in the 19th and, more recently the Spanish Civil War in the 20th |
 |
| The afternoon sun picks out the battle scarred castle walls |
We moved on from Peniscola towards Valencia, an easy journey now that the old toll motorway, is no longer chargeable. A new Aire, fortunately we’d booked as we got talking to another English couple who had arrived moments after us, to find no room for Friday night (Aire location: 39°32'54.6"N 0°20'39.0"W). They could park up outside and move in the next day which was fine, but there was an awful lot of noise and activity from the Sports Bar opposite, till the early hours. We had a long chat with them by the ticket machine for the metro into Valencia where we all bought our tickets for the following day.
 |
| Our fabulous paella at Venecia restaurant at the foot of the castle walls in Peniscola |
 |
| The Serrans Gate in the north |
We went in, bright and early on Saturday, us, not the weather, which was grey and gloomy and threatening rain. We got off the metro and walked in the dry river bed around to the gate in the north of the city. This was open, with free admission, which seemed to be unusual, but gave great views over the city. Not quite as good as the view from the bell tower of the cathedral, but with 207 steps that was a lot higher. Obviously we had to do that as well! All sorts of city buildings appeared to be open to the public, unusually, either to look at the buildings themselves or to see the nativity scenes that had installed. We took full advantage of this and had a really good city visit. By the time we had looked at Christmas markets, and walked the other way down the river walk to the centre for Arts and Sciences, three amazing buildings, we’d walked 13km and our little feet ached. Back on the metro to the Aire, just in time to beat the rain. Hurrah. See our 'Relive' video with photos of our walk round Valencia: click here. We should perhaps have stayed another night and gone back into the city, but we’d thought one day would be enough and were expected at the folks, in Altea. Sunday roast beef was being cooked to welcome us, so off we went, and here we are. Ted is parked up, and it really doesn’t feel like three years since we were last here. We are making the most of today, Dad and Elizabeth have gone to bridge, and tomorrow our jobs start!
 |
| And on our visit the Serrans gate was open so we could climb to the top and get this great view over the old river bed that was drained after the river was diverted to the west of the city after a devastating flood in 1957. It was decided to retain the bed as a huge green corridor through the city. All the old bridges are still there and the bed has been transformed into a web of parks, sports facilities and the hugely impressive modern architecture of the Arts and Sciences buildings at the southern end |
 |
| Here's the view the other way, on the left is the tower of the cathedral |
 |
| This is a bit closer, the cathedral is in front and we're in the Placa de la Mare de Deu |
 |
| So we had to climb the 207 steps of the cathedral tower to get the expansive 360 degree panorama of the city. Down there is the Plaza the above photo was taken from and, if you look carefully, the Serrans gate |
 |
| In another direction in the far distance (centre) is the impressive modern architecture of the Arts and Science buildings |
 |
| Another impressive bit of architecture, this is the main train station and, disappearing off on the left is the bullring |
 |
| The Colon market building, another impressive building (there are so many of them in this city!) |
 |
| What about this for an amazing building - it's just awesome! |
 |
| The Hemisphere and Arts buildings |
 |
| This panorama doesn't do these building justice, you have to see them. Valencia is a mix of very old, old and very modern architectural styles and it all goes together to form a vibrant, exciting city with a fabulous mix of excellent restaurants and bars, one of the best cities we've been to |
 |
| And so finally to our Christmas and New Year stop at Richard (Jackies dad) and Elizabeths fabulous house in Altea-La-Vella on the Costa Blanca. Not a blue sky day on the day we arrived, but that's the exception, it's mainly sunny all year. Big Ted is there parked on the drive after getting up the narrow (Big Ted sizewise) and steep driveway. I'd been having nightmares about getting in there again after a big stress the first time I did it three years ago and getting a very hot and smelly clutch by the time I'd got up the slope stopping and starting to make sure I didn't hit anything. This time, no problem, in and straight up. Very happy with that, maybe I'm a bit more experienced at driving him and knowing the size of him now |
 |
| The classic view of their house at the base of the impressive Bernia Ridge. Just a pity it was in cloud. I'll get a better one for the next blog entry |
No comments:
Post a Comment