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Published: January 20th 2008
Streets in Sagunto
This was one of many steep roads we had to scale in order to get up to El Castillo.The Program planned an optional daytrip to Sagunto, a small town to the North of Valencia City (where I am), but still part of the area of Spain known as Valencia. We rode in a couple of chartered busses and I was in the top half of my first double-decker bus (covered, not open, though). The ride was short, only about 20 minutes, and took us right by the coast, offering me another first in my life -- a glimpse at the Mediterranean. It looked so pristine and gorgeous. I can't wait until the weather is nice enough on a free day so I can walk there and dip my feet in the water and maybe even splash around a bit.
The town of Sagunto itself is very European, with tiny little streets, some of them still seeming to be some kind of cobble stone. We took a short tour of the more historic parts of the city, seeing the church which serves as the stopping place for large elaborate religious processions. A winding path leads up a hill to the church, so I can only imagine what it must look like to look down at a large, collorful, boisterous
The Sights
We passed by a small park with a playground and lots of loud children being cute. Lots of them wanted their picture taken. Sadly the one a group of boys turned out blurry. group of people snaking their way up to the church.
Other than that the town is home to an ancient Roman Theater (El Teatro Romano), much of which was destroyed, but reconstructed in the 20th century. Now it looks like a strange mixture of extremely old and new. The seating is pristine in places where it had to be replaced, and crumbling rock in other places where it wasn't damaged too badly. The stage area of the theater itself is nearly all new except for a few old fragments of stone or column hung up or kept in place to make its origin clear. However, the inner parts of the theater (the walkways under the seating areas and such) are all in nearly perfect condition.
The final part of the trip included time to explore the large Citadel (El Castillo) of Roman and Moorish origin that remains at the highest part of the hill. The structure is huge, with winding ramparts and huge towers. A lot of it is crumbling at this point, but I was still highly impressed.
It was a really nice trip. It was a bit tiring climbing around in the hot sun for so many
hours, so I completely passed out for the ride home. I also managed to get a little sunburned from the day, which won't be at all surprising to anyone I'm sure, especially those that accompanied to the beach last summer.
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Jackie
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goober bangs
my favorite picture is the last one, at the opposite end looking back. that one, and the dwarf baby truck. i want to live my life through your pictures. creepily. xoxo