Castellón / Tourism

Morella: Acting like adolescents at ancient fortress

We rounded out the last weekend in June with a visit to Morella, an ancient fortress city in the mountains of the Castellón province of the Valencian Community. The walled city’s strategic location means it was fought over in many different wars. Today, its main attractions include an old monastery, an aqueduct, and a castle. It was a bit of a climb to the top… Said climb made Dreamer just a little bit sweaty. But it was all worth it for the views. And there were some amazing views once we reached the castle, for sure. The highlight of the

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Castellón

¡Adios, Burriana! ¡Buenos días, Vila-real!

Our lease was up on our piso in Burriana at the end of June, but we still didn’t have our next place figured out yet, as we were waiting to find out where Dreamer would be placed within the Community of Madrid. We rented a moving van, followed by a regular car, and thanks to the generosity of our friends, we were invited to stay in the neighboring town of Vila-real while we awaited word of our next placement. We were surprised by how much we had accumulated in nine months, and we knew we couldn’t possibly take it all with

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Castellón / Valencia

Whirlwind sightseeing weekend: Monastery, rice museum

The last weekend in June (also our last in Burriana), we took advantage of having a car for our move to go to a few out-of-the-way spots that were still on our Valencian Community bucket list. First stop: the Monastery of Santa María in El Puig. Puig is Valenciano for “hill,” and indeed the monastery lies atop a large one. Guided tours are only given on a very specific schedule – there are no freeform visits, and of course it’s closed on Sunday. We decided to go on Saturday afternoon after the lunch descanso. Jaume I, the king who conquered much

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Holidays / Valencia

Bonfires on the beach in Nules

As we work on updating our blog this cold, rainy winter evening in Madrid, we longingly remember watching Midsummer bonfires on a Valencian beach last June. Our dear friends from Vila-Real invited us to mark Saint John’s Day in the most Valencian way possible: FIRE!!! The Hogueras de San Juan (Fogueres de Sant Joan in Valencian) are bonfires, frequently set along a beach. The bonfires, which are lit around the time of the summer solstice, were originally meant to keep evil spirits away. People traditionally build the fires with old furniture and other wood. Revelers typically feed themselves in addition to feeding

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Strolling / Valencia

Succulents, greenhouses add character to Valencian botanic gardens

While waiting for the Corpus Christi parade to start, we strolled through the nearby Botanic Gardens at the University of Valencia. The gardens were full of succulents, cacti, and other tropical plants that grow well in the Valencian climate, with plenty of greenhouses you could walk through as well. The garden even had a small art exhibition space. This poem seemed very appropriate.

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Holidays / Valencia

Giants, big heads spice up Corpus Christi celebration

We made it back from dropping off Mom in Madrid last June just in time to see the actual Corpus Christi parade through the center of Valencia – or so we thought. As this was a Spanish parade, it didn’t actually start when we thought it would, so we had some time to kill. More about that in our next post. The Plaza de la Virgen was a hive of activity, with all of the important parade figures waiting for the festivities to begin. Soon we got to see those gigantes in action! Imagine our surprise when one of the humans

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