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As decided last night we were going to spend the day inland, most of it at the hilltop town of Morella. We made a pretty poor start by taking the scenic route, making the wrong turn at the town of Calig, and heading in the wrong direction for about 5 kms through a riverbed (dry, of course) and onto a gravel road before we decided to retrace our steps. But, no problemo! It was the start of the day and we can handle mishaps like that in the a.m. - in the afternoon, THAT’s when we start getting ratty about unscheduled detours).
We had 4 or 5 towns on our agenda today and the first one was a nice little number called Sant Mateu, about 50kms inland. There was not much activity in Sant M on this particular Tuesday morning, bar a few locals wandering down to the market to gather some fresh produce. As with everywhere we’ve been in Spain there was an awful lot of construction going on , and we found evidence of New Zealand’s Leaky Building Syndrome and a unique remedial
approach…fill the place with Space Invader.
The tourist office was closed (or maybe there wasn’t even one) but the clever folks at Sant Mateu had painted a blue stripe about 3 metres wide right down the middle of the cobblestoned street that follows the main interests of the town. Along the blue brick road were littered all sorts of ‘signs’ in quite the Knights Templar style…we weren’t quite sure what to make of them but most likely blew them out of proportion.
It took less than an hour to follow the blue path, but we did happen across the old riverbed (this one wasn’t dry, but it was little more than a filthy little trickle, so come mid summer it will be like all the others), the clock tower under repair, a quite impressive church (of course), and an ornate theatre. This was another town almost infested with swallows and they seemed to appear in most photos.
We high tailed it out of Sant Mateu and headed right into the hills, making the steep and incredibly winding route up to Morella, another 45 minutes away. Along the way were numerous small towns perched atop hills, all worth
stopping for in their own right according the local tourist info, but we were on a mission.
We stopped at a picnic spot just in from of the town so we could all grab a bite to eat and spend a while just soaking in the walled city, the massive portals, the ancient aqueduct, and to grab some wild rosemary to have with our roast potatoes for dinner.
Morella is quite the contrast to yesterday’s castle at Peniscola. For a start it is over a kilometre higher in the sky, and there’s a greater prevalence of eagles than swallows (although the swallows do congregate en masse in the town, just below the castle). And while it is a little less ‘complete’ as a structure, it is quite a lot bigger and requires more legs to get through in one go (there’s a couple of unexpected climbs).
Then again there are numerous similarities too…not least of which is the interest from the Iberians, Romans, Muslims and Christians throughout the ages. Interestingly, the castle itself has only been conquered twice, but never by actual force - a testament to its superior locale. The first attempt was an internal betrayal
(family, eh? Cant live with them, pass the peanuts), and the second was during the Carlinda Wars when access was gained through the ‘toilet hole’ (something lost in translation there, me thinks).
So we walked through the old town for an hour, and found the cooling arcaded main street, and the un-miss able Santa Maria church and the Cloister of Sant Francesca. Unfortunately all the above were closed for siesta. Not to be beaten, we figured we’d get through a hike to, and tour through, the castle and be back to grab a peek at the religious buildings before Kaspar got hungry (read: ‘grumpy’) and we needed a San Miguel (read: ‘grumpy’).
The castle was incredible. If you are ever within 150km of this place it is worth the drive! Not only is it huge, but it is superbly maintained and for just $1.50 euro you can take as long as you want to wander through the 20 or so documented rooms (and many ‘other rooms and alcoves’) and imagine just what went on there 1000 years ago, and also take in the incredible view. At 1000m up it’s still surprising that not everything you see is below
your feet. The layer upon layer of jagged hillside in front of you stretches seemingly for ever, and only stops as the horizon blurs.
Among the spots of interest is the Padala Tower, where Josefa Bosch, a Morellan woman was hanged by the French during the Independence War. There’s also an old well which looks to still be in use, and more doors, archways, stairways, weapon emplacements, windows, vaulted ceilings than you can shake a very large stick at.
The photographer among us had an absolute field day and we ended the tour with a look-see in the just opened Church (the place was incredible, but pitch black and while they allow you to take photos, we only found out afterwards that you have to pay to turn the lights on. Bugger!), picking a couple of souvenirs (and perhaps one novelty, which are fairly sure is borderline antique), followed by a well-deserved beer down in the town beneath the ancient arcade contemplating what a different scene it would’ve been here 800 years ago.
Not sure what tomorrow will bring. There’s so much still to see inland and we haven't even thought about working on the tan.
PS. The rosemary roast potatoes were perfection.
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