“Cova del Gamell” Walk (Montgó Natural Park), Lunch At Restaurante San Giuseppe And A Café Granizado (Coffee Slush) Recipe

Sunday came round again (where on earth do the days go?!?!) with no plan on our agenda. The day previous it had rained quite heavily, we knew we wouldn’t be venturing into our “huerta” for a couple of days. The sun was out and it felt like summer was on its way at last. Time to get a wee walk in before the weather gets too hot.

The question was, where on earth were we going to go? I couldn’t be bothered to prepare a picnic (too much hassle on a Sunday morning), meaning our walk couldn’t last 6 hours, starvation would kick in long before 😁. We had to find a shortish route which could be done before lunch. Preferably nothing too strenuous either, by the time we left the house it had just gone 11 and the day was starting to feel rather warm (hooray hooray, lovely summer 😊).

Thankfully Pep had his thinking cap on (I tend to misplace mine at the weekends) and he found a couple of shortish routes on the Montgó mountain. So over to Denia we tootle. The walks commence at the Ermita del Pare Pere (we used Google Maps to show us the way). Parking was relatively easy, even on a warm, sunny Sunday, and we initiated our walk along the track, ready to tackle one of the marked routes.

We decided on route number 4 for two reasons. One, because there and back it supposedly takes approximately 3 hours to complete and two (this was the real decider!), it’s mostly on the flat. There are days when you just need to chill and take it easy!

Routes 3, 4 and 5 all start from the same spot, along the “Camí de la Colònia”. After a few hundred metres, route number 5 forks off to the right, leading the people who walk upon it to the summit of the Montgó. Not long after, trail number 3 also separates from the “camino” we are on, winding its way up to the Cova de l’Aigua (cave of the water).

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We continue our walk along the Camí de la Colonia, towards the “Cova del Gamell”. It’s an easy walk along a wide track for most of the route (turning into a narrower trail a few hundred metres from the cave), which winds its way round the North side of the Montgó, the lion side, towards the Cabo de San Antonio. It was a tad hazy due to the previous day’s rain but nothing too drastic to impede us from enjoying the views of the coastline. We could just make out Cullera in the distance.

The approach to the cave is across the “barranco” but it’s pretty easy. There are a few large stones to walk across followed by a short, narrow track but that’s it. If you wish, once you’ve reached the cave you can carry on walking to the summit of the Montgó, 752 metres above sea level. It’s classed as a difficult walk, proper mountain boots are required and there could be a spot of scrambling involved too. Another walk to add to our ever-increasing to-do list once the summer is over.

As you can see from the photo above, there is a way to enter the cave down a little track. It’s a bit slippy, especially after a spot of rain, but it’s worth having a look.

Here’s a Denia website with a few curiosities about the cave. It’s in English as well as a few other languages. It took us approximately an hour and a half to reach the cave from where we had parked the car. We didn’t rush and I kept stopping to take photos. Hunger was setting in on our way back down so we didn’t take quite as long, about an hour and a quarter.

It’s a great walk, suitable for all ages. We had one little contretemps though. Although there was a nice breeze and it didn’t feel too hot, the sun is extremely strong at this time of year. Neither of us remembered to slather ourselves in sunscreen (very unusual for Pep) and we got extremely burnt. Wallies! So take my advice, protect your skin. You’d think we should know by now 🙄.

Time for lunch. We hadn’t booked anywhere due to not knowing what time our walk would finish. We headed over to one of our favourite Italians, hoping they would have room for two hungry souls. I first visited Restaurante San Giuseppe (website here with menu, Facebook page here) quite a few years back, when one of our shop’s customers (thanks Keith Bruin 😁) recommended it.

My mum and my cousin were with me and we couldn’t quite believe the portions. We ordered a couple of salads and a calzone. I won’t forget the look on my cousin’s face when they brought the calzone to the table. Never had we seen anything like it, it was absolutely humungous! I would say only a third of it fit on the plate, the rest hung off the edges. The salads were also pretty massive but we managed to polish them off. Unfortunately more than half of the calzone ended up going back to the kitchen, it was just too big.

Pep first sampled their cuisine not long after we started going out together. His face went quite white with shock when they served him the tremendously large pizza. We like to go during the summer for a takeaway at night. We’ll take a salad or some “espencat” (roasted pepper and aubergine dish that I make in this post), order one pizza for the two of us and go and sit on the beach to devour it all. Perfection.

Their pasta dishes are also very good and seem big enough for two. I’ve heard that their steak is fantastic but I’ve never tried it. This time Pep ordered a pizza and I had the chicken, avocado and mango salad. Very rare for me to eat meat but it was either that or the goats cheese salad and I wasn’t in the mood. I did scrounge a slice of Pep’s pizza though!

The prices are reasonable considering the size of the portions. If I remember correctly, Pep’s pizza cost between 11€ and 12€, my salad approximately 13-14€, certainly not dear. Where they do go a bit over the top is with the drinks. We ordered a large bottle of water between us and Pep had a “tercio” (33cl bottle of beer). I don’t remember the price of the beer but the water cost 4.20€. It was Solán de Cabras in a glass bottle so a good make, but even so, seems a bit steep to me. But the food makes up for it. They also serve a complementary “chupito” (shot glass) of limoncello when you order the bill.

One more slightly annoying point that happens in a few restaurants. They bring bread plus olives, etc, without you asking and then charge for it. We always send it back ’cause Pep doesn’t really want it if he’s eating pizza and I rarely eat it anyway. Not sure of the price ’cause it’s not on the menu, naughty really. Just tell them if you don’t want it.

After our lunch we had a stroll along the Las Marinas beach (got to be done) towards Vergel. I’d been a few days previous with mum for our first beach walk of the summer (well, almost summer). It’s a fantastic beach for a wander by the sea, it seems never-ending. You just have to remember that you’ve got to turn round at some point, otherwise you’ll end up in Gandía! But hey, if that’s what you fancy then go for it.

During my walk with mum we stopped at the Chiringuito Mojito (Facebook page here) for a grani (our abbreviation for “granizado”, slush in English). You’ll often hear me ask my mum if she fancies grabbing a grani at a local ice cream parlour or chiringuito in the summer. Sounds a bit odd but it only means I’m thirsty 😁.

Anyway, back to the chiringuito (beach bar). The waiters and waitresses were very friendly, the atmosphere was great. They were playing Cuban music and we felt like we were on holiday. Two types of granizados were available, lemon and maracuyá (passion fruit). We ordered the lemon and sat there enjoying it whilst relaxing in the summer heat. Marvellous.

Pep and I returned on the Sunday and ordered two passion fruit granizados. Both the lemon and the passion fruit are very tasty, served in large glasses and they only charge 2.80€ each one. Bargain. They’re dearer than that in the Ondara shopping centre!! And I’d much sooner be sitting on the beach than shut inside a mall on a summer’s day 😊.

“Granizados” are, along with “horchata de chufa” (a cooling, vegan, tiger-nut beverage which I give my recipe for in this post) my favourite summer drinks. I have two flavours I adore, lemon and coffee. I rarely order coffee grani when I’m out though, mainly for two reasons. One, it’s rarely decaf (caffeine and me don’t go too well together) and two, I find it can sometimes taste a bit like fairy liquid. No idea why, must be something to do with my taste buds.

Years ago, in the late 90’s I think, I was having a meander around “Nuevo Centro”, a shopping centre in Valencia. Tucked away in a corner was a tiny little coffee shop. No tables or chairs, you had to have what you fancied to take away.

The wonderful smell of strong, aromatic coffee emanated around the shops. I just couldn’t resist, I had to have one. A sign hung from above the till announcing they served homemade coffee “granizado”. Obviously that was my choice, my love for slushes comes before anything else. It was served in a small, plastic cup, quite different to the usual large portions in most bars and ice cream parlours. One sip though and I was hooked. This was how the flavour should be, strong and sweet, nothing like the weak sort I was used to with the fairy liquid aftertaste.

Since that day I have yet to find another bar that serves such delicious coffee “granizado”. So if the coffee slush wouldn’t come to Muhammad,… it had to be made at home. Thankfully, it’s not hard to achieve a flavour similar to the one from the little coffee shop in Valencia. All you need is strong coffee, some sugar and a freezer. I highly recommend using some form of filter coffee, whether using an espresso machine, a percolator, the Moka style pot that is found in most Spanish households, the plunger method etc, etc. You can use instant if you want but it won’t be as nice.

We have an espresso style machine which I love. It’s as close as you can get to the wonderful three phase jobbies in most Spanish establishments. We buy a delicious, eco, decaffeinated coffee but use one you like, decaf or not. The recipe calls for 500ml of strong coffee. To make this amount I like to make 3 batches of coffee, approximately 170ml each, using the 2 cup measure thingy that comes with our machine. Whatever you do, just make sure it’s pretty strong.

You’ll also need to make a type of simple syrup. Add 90 grams of sugar (I use eco cane sugar), 100ml of water and a teaspoon of lemon juice to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stir and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Mix the coffee and the syrup together and allow to cool.

When it’s cooled down, transfer to an airtight container (preferably stainless steel or thick glass, you’ll see why in a mo) and place in the freezer. After a couple of hours remove from the freezer and, with a spoon or a fork, break up the iced coffee (it won’t be solid). Continue to do this every 30 minutes until you reach the texture you prefer (this is why I don’t use a plastic container). Personally, I think the drink is rather nice after the initial 2 hours.

Sometimes you might not want any when it’s ready and it will freeze solid. Not a problem 😁. Just remove from the freezer about 45-60 mins (depending on outside temperature) before you plan on drinking it and then repeat the process with the spoon or fork (or blunt knife if you want), breaking up the ice crystals till you get a slush. Here’s a terrible video, filmed holding the camera in my left hand whilst breaking up the crystals with my right. I really should invest in one of those table top tripods 🙄.

A small glass of this refreshing beverage after lunch is lovely, coffee and pudding in one. It’s also divine mixed with some “horchata”, I like 1 part coffee to 2 parts of the “chufa” drink.

There is a much more luxurious way to enjoy this coffee drink though, and that’s with ice cream, my mum’s favourite. Most ice cream parlours offer either a “Blanco y Negro” (coffee slush with “leche merengada” ice cream) or a “Nacional” (coffee slush with vanilla ice cream). Both are very tasty.

Of course, I wanted to make a vegan “blanco y negro”. This is a bit of a boring story (I’ll keep it short) but I have to tell it so you know how I ended up making my version of a “Blanco y Negro”, or rather “Naranja y Negro”!!

Not too long ago I was in the process of preparing the vegan pumpkin ice cream I make in this post here. As usual I offer Pep a spoonful of the mix before it goes in the ice cream maker, just to make sure it tastes ok 😁. At the same time he was drinking a small black coffee. He commented on how the two flavours complimented each other well. That’s when I remembered that I’d seen many a blog imitating Starbucks pumpkin coffee latte with a vegan version of their own. When I make my pumpkin ice cream now I add a small “cortado” glass full of black coffee made in the espresso maker. It’s wonderful.

So I thought, if the coffee goes well in the ice cream then the ice cream is going to go well in the coffee. So we gave it a go. Oh my, it’s divine. I was in heaven. The way the ice cream gradually melts into the coffee is fabulous, resembling a very creamy frappe. This will be a staple in this house now the temperatures are warming up nicely.

Right, well, best be off, always something to do. Just a few recent pics of what’s been happening in our huerta.

Oh, back to the subject of icy desserts. If you fancy a pineapple sorbet here’s a link to one I made the other day. It’s sooo refreshing.

Right, I’m definitely off now. I’ve just realised that this is the longest post I’ve written. I do hope you haven’t fallen asleep 😬. And if you have, maybe it’s cured your insomnia!! Thanks for reading. As always, any suggestions or questions please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. If you would like to see future posts you can like or follow our Facebook page or subscribe to my blog by filling in the subscription form on this page. Take care all of you. See you soon. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx

P.S Here’s a lovely pic my mum took the other day of a happy sunflower field close to Orba