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The
Beginning / Peņiscola
| After a one week stay in
Salou in June 2001 Christine and I went on to Peņiscola.
Peņiscola is situated about 2 hours in the south of
Barcelona (220 km) and 1 1/4 hour (150 km) in the north
of Valencia. It's not in Catalonia but in the region of
Valencia at the Costa del Azahar. We stayed one week in
the Aparthotel Acuazul. The hotel is okay and situated
about 1,5 km away from the city directly close to the
beach. The apartments have been okay and so was the food,
but it was a hotel full of spanisch people and so the
food sometimes was a little bit strange. In the first
evening we went down a part of the brandnew promenade to
Benicarló that's really nice to have a walk on it. |
On the beach of
Peņiscola in direction to Benicarló
| The
following days we explored more of the village and found
a small city close to the main beach, that lays down at
the feet of the Old town and is full with fine sand.
There you can buy burger, sandwiches and icecream and
although meet young people. The most beautiful part of
the village is , beside the beach, the very spanish Old
town, that is situated on a big rock with a castle on
it's top. |
Main beach of
Peņiscola, Old town and castle
| On our first walk through
the Old town we took a look at the nice lanes by day and
enjoyed them very much. There you really know that you're
in your holidays in Spain. |
In the
streets of
Peņiscola by day ...
| Another day we visited the
Old town again, but this day ist was just getting dark.
We've really been impressed, not only seeing a beautiful
lighted Old town, but even many bars and restaurants that
seemed to appear suddenly. They've been closed for the
days and only opened at night, so we didn't recognize
them by day. We felt great walking there in a warm
summernight. That's how a night in a summer holiday has
to make you feel!!! |
... and by night
A short
trip to Oropesa del Mar & Benicāssim
A trip to
two other famous holiday-destinations on the Costa del
Azahar at first led us to Oropesa del Mar. When we
finally found the nice beach "Playa de la
Concha" we were really a little bit disappointed.
The beach itself was not bad, but near the beach there
were only some apartmenthouses (not hotels) and nearly no
bars and restaurants. There seem only to be spanish
tourists having their own apartment over there. I wasn't
able to take a good photo of this beach because the point
with the best view is private area. In Oropesa there's
still a big nice hotel situated at the end of the other
beach and these nice houses on the main street to the
other beach. We didn't see the Old town, so it might be
that it's really a highlight of Oropesa.
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Houses in Oropesa
del Mar
| Further on we went to
Benicāssim. This small town seems to be another
favourite place for the spanish people, having their own
apartments over there. There are several fine, sandy
beaches with a total length of 6 km, with a nice
promenade in it's back. when we visited the town ther've
only been a few people on the beach. A real city we
didn't find but on the Voramar beach, you can find an
equal called hotel with is situated great (close to the
beach). |
On the beach of
Benicāssim
One of the old
houses at the promenade
the promenade
| Finally we went Castellon
de la Plana, to visit the biggest supermarkets in the
region Alcampo and Carrefour for some cheap shopping. |
Morella
| The most popular
destination for a trip from Peņiscola is the beautiful
village Morella. About 75 km from the Sea and Peņiscola
Morella can be seen even from far away on the top of a
1.000 m hill. Inside the 2,5 km townwall you can find a
pretty and typical spanish village with an old castle on
the top of it. Nice narrow lanes are on the left and
right side of the main street and some of them will lead
you up to the castle. Shops selling local products can be
found on both sides of the main street as well as some
small restaurants. Most we liked the small shop "La
casa de la miel" (the house of honey). There you can
test honey in many different flavours. We really enjoyed
this trip because Morella, in spite of the tourists,
seems to be spanish, too. |
Morella
Main street
La casa de la miel
Basílica, right
part...
... and left part
with the castle
Comment:
1. Peņiscola
is the most living place on the Costa del Azahar, but is
in low seasons not interesting for young people who want
to get in contact to other young tourists or to make
party every day and night. One of the best hotels seems
to be the Hotel Papa Luna that is situated near the city
and the Old town. We enjoyed the Old town by day and
night very much. The beach can be recommended, too.
2. Morella is
a nice spanish village, that is always worth a trip.
|
Ende!!!
Stand 2001.07.17
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