2 castles in the afternoon
Last week we decided to go on a trip to the castles in the natural park south of Peñiscola, Serra d’Irta. This park along the coast has many ruins. Old farms, ancient watchtowers and of course the 2 castles which we visited. The Pulpis Castle and the Castle of Xivert. Both of the castles have been built on a hill, overlooking the valley.
We went with our new friend Jazz, which we first had to pick up. After that we went to the Pulpis Castle, which is closest to Peñiscola. We didn’t know the way exactly, but with the castle being visible from a distance, it was not that difficult to find the road towards it. The gravel road leading to the castle was near Marmoles Serrat, a local company that mines marble. So it’s best to first follow the signs towards them, because the signs to the castle appear later. The gravel road is slowly winding upwards through hills and low mountains, with some spectacular views on the coast and the valley. It’s not for the faint of heart, since there is no rail. Although you won’t directly drive off a cliff, the drops are not that steep. The last part of the road we went by foot, because the gravel road down to the castle was very steep and not good enough to go by car. It is about 700 meters long and goes down more than 100 meters. Something Maja regretted when we had to walk back ;D
After walking around the Pulpis castle, we were the only ones there, and enjoying the views we went to our next stop: the castle of Xivert. It’s a bit further south in the same natural park. You can actually go by a gravel road from castle to castle, but we preferred to go back to the main road and go to the next castle from there. The castle of Xivert is in a better state than Pulpis castle and so is the road towards it. There is a small parking area, several walking trails and a picknick table. If you walk around the castle you can visit the old Moorish village. The castle itself is also of Moorish origin, but was used for most of its useful lifetime by military orders, the Templar Knights and the Order of Montesa, loyal to the Crown of Aragón.
Although both castles are nice places with spectacular views, we preferred the castle of Xivert. Simply because both the castle and the road towards it are in a better state. Besides that it also has signs with information in 3 different languages and some minor facilities mentioned earlier. It’s a good place to go to for a relaxing day out.
Then again, why just go to one castle? We were able to visit 2 castles in about 4 hours. There are so many castles in the area that, if you start in the morning, it’s definitely possible to visit at least 4 castles. Especially considering that the roads to the castles of Peñiscola and Cervera del Maestre are a lot better. They both have a hardened road that leads to a parking area just outside of the castle walls.
Besides this blogpost we also added two information pages, one for each castle. So more information about the castles can be found there. The pages can be found in the „Sightseeing” part of our website which is now opened up; ”Monuments”. Here we will add information about the local sights that we have visited. So when people visit the area around Peñiscola, they can easily find the nicest places to go to. Move aside Tripadvisor 😀
