Sunday 3rd December 2017

Altea is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Costa Blanca, (Spain’s White Coast). The town is between Benidorm to the south and Calpe, which is easily recognisable with its magnificent Ifach rock. This iconic rock formation is visible from many of the northern coastal towns of Coasta Blanca.

Our journey to Altea was interesting and Ray enjoyed the twists and turns of the roads through the mountainous terrain, something which we hadn’t encountered for a while. The landscape we passed through was terraced wherever possible and many of the small houses along the route were dotted high in the hills.

After climbing high to the town of Benicàssim, we headed back down towards the coast, passing the entrance to a large urbanisation, Altea Hills, aptly named, and a beautiful Russian Orthodox Church.

On the steep drop down towards the coast, was a small development called Pueblo Mascarat, with typical Spanish looking villas and a large harbour area.

As we approached Altea we could clearly see the blue and white tiled domes of the church in the old quarter, perched high above the town on the north side of the main road.

We made our way down towards the seafront and the promenade, the modern part of the town, to find a parking space. Parking was clearly signposted and we managed to find a spot between the promenade and the beach and the bustling array of cafes, bars and restaurants, which lined the road.

The large beach consisted of very large pebbles and extended in both directions for as far as the eye could see. The promenade followed the contours of the beach and extended way past the very impressive looking harbour to the south of the town.

On the day we visited the town was busy and vibrant and it was great to see so many people out and about on a Sunday, with the added bonus of many places open for business too.

A short walk across the main N332 coast road, which cuts through the middle of the town, led us towards the old town.

It’s a steep climb up to the old town so be prepared.

The old town looks typically Spanish with its pretty, narrow cobbled streets and quaint whitewashed houses.

The contrast of the black wrought iron window grilles and balconies, mixed with the vibrant coloured Bougainvilleas and orange trees, with their ornamental fruit, reminded me of past holidays to what was then the small town of Mijas in Andalusia. Happy memories 🙂

As we made our way to the main central square, we were blown away by the terrific views of the Mediterranean between the roof tops of the houses.

There was certainly no shortage of small restaurants offering fantastic Menu del Dia, at very reasonable prices too.

In the main square, opposite the church of the Virgen del Consuelo, we enjoyed a coffee, whilst watching the world go by.

There was also a variety of small shops and historical buildings to peruse in the old quarter.

Altea will definitely be on our list of places to re-visit in the future, as will Dénia, Calpe and Jávea (Xàbia).

Thursday 23rd November 2017

Despite several attempts to locate a sandy beach close by on Google, I had failed. Even my search ‘sandy beach’ turned out to be ‘stony beach’!!

I wasn’t going to be defeated. One more last attempt to locate a beach before my sister headed back home.

Success! I had finally located 3 beaches close to Castellón de la Plana and Benicàssim.

Continue reading Castellón de la Plana →

Wednesday 22nd November 2017

Today, Kim, Carol & I took a drive up to Morella, Castellón. It is an ancient hill top walled city about 125km north of our campsite.

I was looking forward to driving up into the mountains as it was riding on mountain roads that was the main attraction of my motorcycle trips.

Continue reading Morella →

Tuesday 21st November 2017

My sister flew into València yesterday and after collecting her from the airport we spent the rest of the day catching up, enjoying a few beers in one of the bars near the beach before dinner and bed. Tomorrow we were off to València for the day.

Ray had sought Tomás’ help regarding where to catch the train to València. He recommended we didn’t park the car at Moncofar station, as he didn’t consider it safe enough. His suggestion was to drive to the town of Nules, a mere 3 kms away. We would be able to park on the streets around the station. Continue reading València – L’Oceanogràphic →

Saturday 18th/Sunday 19th November

The decision had been made. We were going to enjoy a lazy weekend. For a change we were parking the car and would only investigate our immediate area by foot or by cycle.

First things first; the beach. It was only a short walk across the road from our site, through low rise apartment blocks and almost completely deserted.

There was a road which ran parallel with the beach as well as a palm lined pavement which followed the road.

The one disappointment was that the beach was mainly large pebbles and as such, not easy to keep clean, looked somewhat unattractive and was difficult to walk on.

We made our way down to the shore line, which was a mixture of smooth pebbles, shingle and the occasional sandy spot. The water was very clear and it was possible to see the acute drop off of the pebbles a short way into the sea. Neither of us were even slightly tempted to investigate how deep the drop off would be 🙂

There were a few artificial groynes along the shore line, which seemed the popular places to set up your fishing rod. Although apart from the fisherman or occasional dog walker, we were the only ones on the beach!

Continuing on we moved inland and walked further along on a promenade, lined on the town side by a number of what we could only think, were the original single storey houses from the early 1900’s.

Our walk took us to the end of the beach and a small nature reserve.

We turned for home but this time made our way back along the main street. Apart from two café/restaurants, everything else was closed for the season.

In this part of the town, the apartments and villas were all arranged on a grid system, with various one way streets.

The main town of Moncofar also had an unusual system of one way roads, which we were yet to get to grips with but we would have plenty of time to explore them over the coming days.

The following day we decided to take the bikes for a spin. We began by attempting to see if we could cycle close to the beach. Perhaps there was a path to follow? No such luck. We quickly realised that this would not be an option.

Remembering Tomás in reception had given us lots of information about the area, we returned to the caravan to rethink our journey.

Sure enough we had a map of various cycle routes in the area, and we headed off once more in the direction of the orange groves.

We soon discovered that there was a network of easy to cycle roads which ran through the absolutely massive area of orange plantations.

Of course if anyone mentions Valencia, probably the first thing people think of is oranges. Valencia is the land of oranges (naranjas) and the area we are in is aptly named Costa de Azahar or orange blossom coast in Castellon/Castello.

We somehow hadn’t considered how much fruit would be on the trees. That was just our ignorance. Of course these citrus fruits are in season in winter and spring.

We rode through avenue upon avenue of oranges, in different stages of ripeness. It was also the first time we had seen water running in the streams and along purpose built rills to keep the fruit trees supplied.

There were workers amongst the trees. Some picking and packing the fruit into boxes, stacked at the roadside, waiting to be collect by lorries. In other sections were locals tending their individual plots handpicking their crop.

Interspersed with the orange groves we also came across pomegranates growing on trees, which had swollen and burst and were being enjoyed by the birds.

Unbeknown to us, we were later to discover another seasonal fruit in Valencia.

We also discovered today, Sunday, that all the shops were closed. Oops. Who forgot to check that out before hand??

Luckily for us, during the low season, the campsite has a small restaurant/bar .It is open every evening for a few hours during the week for drinks only but on Saturday and Sunday has a lunch and dinner menu on offer. Result!

A few other campers were in the restaurant already and we made our way to a table for two. It wasn’t long before the lady in the restaurant appeared at our table to take our order.

A chalk board is outside the restaurant detailing what is on offer that day. A choice of 3 starters and 3 mains for the princely sum of 10 euro each without drinks 🙂

Our waitress spoke very little English but was considerate and patient and we managed to place our order.

Ray was having the shrimp cocktail and paella. I was looking forward to baby squid and lamb with garnish.

Meal over our waitress returned and in Spanish told us about the desserts on offer. (So we guessed). Unfortunately neither of us had any inkling of the choices on offer. We tried to say one of each, but who knows what we actually said!

I ended up with a bowl of pomegranate seeds, which was fine for me, I quite like them. In hindsight we should have guessed what ‘granada’ was. (I like grenadine too).

Ray’s dessert however was quite interesting. The waitress referred to it as caqui. It could only be described as an upside down tomato, a rather large tomato. Where did he start? How should he eat it?

Peeling the skin back revealed rather translucent flesh which had a jelly like consistency. (That would account for accompanying spoon.) The taste was akin to a very sweet strawberry jelly.

After some exploration on the internet we discovered that the fruit was a persimmon or Sharon fruit; one of the many seasonal fruits that we have since discovered in the local shops.