| Recommended days | 7 |
| Budget | £ |
| Difficulty | Easy |
For this trip we decided to visit somewhere new and explore the north east of Spain on our Catalonia road trip. I had read about the Catalonian independence movement and wanted to see the area that caused the EU such a headache with their ridiculous ideas like democracy and accountability đŸ˜‰ Also, there are a huge amount of historic sites to see in the area.
Well, the holiday started well. I woke up in the airport hotel at 1AM and realised I had left my driving license behind. That stressed me out and it was too late to drive back from Gatwick and get it so it meant Debbie had to do the driving.
Salou
The flight was good though and once we’d got out of Barcelona the motorways were pretty empty. We got to the apartment around 3PM and it was a bit tattier than expected but it’s somewhere new to explore. We headed to Lidl for supplies and then walked down to the sea front in Salou which was very pretty with a huge pedestrian prom. It is one thing that appeals to us about Spanish resorts, the lovely promenade along the sea front where you can just walk and relax.
After this quick overview, pausing only for me to break my sunglasses, we then looked for a restaurant. Our choice was based on the menu – lots of Spanish options for the carnivores and ordering it was entertaining as our only common language was sign language! This was a refreshing change as I had stopped trying to learn Spanish because everyone in Andalucia spoke English!
Miravet Templar Castle
The next morning I woke early for some stupid reason but after a slow breakfast we didn’t even leave until 10. It was a great drive (for me, as a passenger) to the castle at Miravet.
The castle was originally an Arab fort and later taken over by the Knights Templars. It was lovely to weave our way through the medieval buildings of the old town and we climbed the hill to the entrance, which was damned hard work and then found there was actually a car park just outside the castle!
There were beautiful river views from the walls and it was interesting to read about the Spanish Civil war covering the same ground as the Reconquista. After a far easier walk down the hill and then lunch we drove to a botanical gardens at Parc Sama for Deb.
Parc Sama
These were quite amazing – very run down but they must have been magnificent a hundred years ago. The lady at the entrance was incredibly helpful, spoke excellent English and it transpired she speaks 8 languages!! We could have easily spent a day here, walking around, enjoying the sunshine and feeding the animals.
We then went back to apartment for me to cook dinner! I bloody hate food, didn’t eat til gone 8.30 as it just consumes so much time. On the plus side, we started on the berry liqueur.
Tarragona: Pont del Diable
Monday was another early start for me but we managed to leave earlier despite another cooked breakfast in bed for Deb. First stop was the Roman aquaduct now called Pont del Diable – this was a bit of a scramble to get to but was a damned impressive piece of 2000 year old engineering. It was difficult to appreciate it properly as it was now in a pine forest and my directive to cut all the bloody trees down obviously hadn’t reached this area.
Tarragona: old and new city
We then headed into Tarragona and eventually parked and headed off to explore. First stop was the viewpoint over the beaches and then we headed to the Roman theatre. We found it closed as Monday is the new Sunday. We managed to get some views of it from the path but couldn’t go in.
From there we headed to the Roman Circus (closed), Roman walls (closed) and somewhere else too that was closed. Bit of a theme really. It was lovely walking round the city though. The old city is pretty much car free and has some very pretty buildings, lots of interesting art work and plenty of cafes.
Tarragona: Cathedral
Final stop was the cathedral which was open! We spent a lot longer here than expected but it was very pretty which lots of the original medieval wall paintings. The cloisters were great, some lovely eclectic carvings (Parade of the Rats anyone) and a very peaceful garden with turtles sunning themselves in the various pools.
We then headed home and had a late lunch before wandering down to Salou seafront and then along the beach before I forced Deb into a cafe so I could have my daily cake ration! Bought some replacement sunglasses and then back to the apartment then to chill a bit before dinner.
Montblanc
Tuesday – guess who woke at 6 o bloody clock Again! Gave me a chance to upload some pics before delivering Deb cooked breakfast in bed. Again. The woman is bloody spoiled! We managed to leave by 9.30 for the short trip to Montblanc which looked amazing from the pictures I’ve seen.
Well, on arrival, it was pretty damned anticlimatic. I was expecting a walled town on a hill, dominating the landscape. We got a walled town in suburbia that was barely higher than a pavement kerb. The walls were intact with plenty of towers and lots of restoration work has obviously been done but it was so embedded in the newer town it was difficult to get a sense of scale.
Especially as the castle on the small hill had been dismantled to use as a building resource. Ah well, we had a wander through the shadowy and deserted streets, stood where the castle used to be and looked at the shopping malls and industrial estates and then had a coffee in the main square which was bereft of a single gelato vendor!
Poblet Monastery
From here we decided to drive to the nearby monastery of Poblet. This is the largest of the three royal monasteries in the area dating from the 13th century. Probably. Most importantly it had a big car park (almost empty) and clean toilets (also empty).
We then found out why, it was closed for a siesta between 12.30 and 3PM and we’d arrived at 1. Words were muttered but we had a walk around the bits we could get to, which certainly were impressive, before heading off again.
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We decided that if one monastery was shut we’d try another and, after checking for siestas, we headed to Santa Creus monastery. Our satnav was obviously on a silicon siesta and took us somewhere that was close, if viewed from space, but I was pretty sure the farmers shed didn’t qualify as a royal monastery. We headed on down the single track road and then spotted some impressive buildings and headed there.
Sadly, that’s where navigational skill deserted us. We parked the car, headed up the hill, round the corner, up the hill and then up more hill before the walls of the monastery continued along the country lane. We headed back towards the car, headed down the hill and saw the entrance, about 30m from where we had parked….
The gateway was certainly impressive and the walk through the courtyard to the next gateway was very imposing. We got our tickets and audio guide and headed inside. The weather had started to cloud over so we were getting chilly but the monastery was quite amazing with some superb carvings, very grand rooms and some original paintings too. We spent a couple of hours before heading outside with impeccable timing as a coach disgorged a horde of schoolkids.
We drove back to the apartment without any coffee or cake stop – I am not impressed with someone else having control of the car!
Valencia
Wednesday was a lie in until 7 and then up and ready for the 3 hour drive to Valencia. Other than the road tolls (€20) the drive was stress free with no road works at all – can you imagine even driving an hour on England’s roads without cones and bloody speed restrictions. Not necessarily any work but the cones out just in case ……
Deb managed to manoeuvre the car into the car park via a gap that was maybe 20cm wider than the actual car and we headed to the hotel to dump our stuff – I’m glad she was driving!
We then headed out to explore the old city of Valencia and what a beautiful city it is! Gorgeous architecture and street art everywhere. We had an excellent lunch and then continued on to the cathedral which was surrounded by flower displays due to a local festival. It was strange being somewhere so busy after the quiet of the other towns but it was also great to see some local pride.
Valencia: Torres de Serranos
We continued on to the Torres de Serranos – one of the 15th century gothic gatehouses in the city wall that has been demolished. This was quite an impressive structure and there were great views from the top, which was kinda the idea I guess.
Valencia: La Lonja de la Seda
Although we had no clear idea where we were going we were quite happy ambling through the maze of pretty streets and eventually came to La Lonja de la Seda, a kind of medieval guildhall. The outside of this was ornate with a lovely orange tree filled courtyard but the inside was just wow. If you visited here 500 years ago you’d be under no doubt where the power lay.
Opposite this was the main city market, an art noveau building that looked impressive but was sadly closed. We meandered back to the Cathedral square and I climbed the bell tower (207 steps and surprisingly hard work) while Deb was far more sensible and sat outside in the sun.
Valencia: Arts and Sciences Park
We then walked back to the hotel for a brief rest before I dragged Deb’s protesting body out for the lot longer than expected walk through the city park to the Arts and Sciences Park. This has some amazing modern architecture and is beautiful at night when everything is lit up. It did make it quite a long day by the time we got back but I was happy to have seen it all, Deb less so.
Valencia: Market
Thursday was another early start and we left the hotel before 8 as Deb wanted to see the city market before we left Valencia. After dragging her around yesterday I could hardly complain so we spent about 9 hours (estimated) looking at vegetables and dead fish. Very pretty building though.
After we left we found a great place for breakfast and I indulged in waffles and cream and chocolate and yoghurt and strawberries and other lushness. We then returned to the hotel, grabbed our stuff and headed on to Denia. The drive out of Valencia was far busier than the drive in but Deb managed it faultlessly and we parked up in Denia just before midday.
Denia: Castle
We walked along the seafront and then stopped for a gelato – hooray – and then met Deb and Rich for a wander up to the castle. This was a huge structure on a massive hill dominating the town but the interior was pretty ruined. The views were impressive and it had a nice cafe on the summit.
The town of Denia itself wasn’t that nice, or at least what we saw. It seemed to be all modern developments with no pretty squares or pretty architecture at all although the sea front was nice enough. We had an excellent late lunch and then went our separate ways and Deb started the 4 hour drive back to Salou. The drive was uneventful but tedious and quite hard work once it got dark but we made it back, unpacked and sat down for a coffee just as there was a power cut…..
Salou: Seafront
Friday we actually had a lie in before spending the morning doing photos in my case and footling in Deb’s. We then walked down to the sea front and followed the coastal path for a while. It was very well maintained and clean and we even saw some police. How can Spain – which has far less money than us – manage clean roads, infrastructure investment and police on the beat whilst we can’t!
I did rather over indulge on the dessert front on this afternoon – waffles and ice cream in one shop and frozen yoghurt in another. We headed back to the apartment to start packing before our final dinner in Salou. We walked down to the front again just in time to miss the sunset and then had a nice meal. Back to the delights of reality in the UK tomorrow.
It was lovely to visit a different area of Spain and there is so much to see, so many different conquerers through the ages. The north is a lot less touristy and Anglised than the south so that was also a refreshing change. There is also plenty to see on another visit so we can easily return for another Catalonia road trip.
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