Tag: castles

Madrid / Tourism

Segovia: Princess castle, aqueduct, and baby pig

Madrid is well-positioned for interesting day trips: just hop on a train and an hour or so later you can immerse yourself in history. In early August, we headed to Segovia, north of the capital in the province of Castile and León, where some of the history dates back to Roman times. The city is famous for its well-preserved aqueduct, which dominates the center. The aqueduct is a part of normal everyday life for Segovianos, with some roads even passing through it. The city’s mascot – meant to echo this famous aqueduct – was just a bit creepy, though… Speaking of

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Castellón / Cooking / Food / Tourism

Onda: Castle, ceramics, and paella

We managed to fit another castle into our schedule last month during an overcast weekend spent recovering near home after our epic trip to Copenhagen. We also visited a ceramics museum and Doer learned some new techniques for making paella – but first, the castle! Onda’s castle once was known as the Castle of 300 Towers, and according to Guía Total de la Comunidad Valenciana (our resident guidebook of the Valencian Community), these towers allowed Muslims in Onda to resist King James I the Conqueror for years, even after the nearby city of Burriana, where we live, was taken in 1233. The Moors built

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Castellón / Tourism

The worst flavor of soda

*Since literally five minutes after I looked up the location we’d been placed in Spain on a map, my puerile mind has been obsessed with the name of a nearby town: Peñíscola. To us, the tilde and accent there seem pretty important; to the Spaniards, it Ain’t no Thang and is in fact well-known as a beautiful beachside town with a sweet old castle. We had to visit. This was a location that needed to wait to visit until we had a car due to the lack of convenient rail service. Thus, with car in tow, it was a clear winner for somewhere to go

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Strolling / Tourism / Valencia

Sagunto: O’er the Ramparts We Walked

Each time Doer and I make the one-hour train journey between Burriana and Valencia, we peek out the window at the Sagunto stop midway through our route to catch a glimpse of the breathtaking Roman Iberian castle overlooking the city from a hilltop. A couple of weekends ago, we decided it was time to explore the ancient citadel. After disembarking, it didn’t take us long to decide to take a taxi for the very steep climb up to the castle. It’s very possible that our cab driver spends the better part of his shifts ferrying tourists to and from the castle

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