Xàtiva In 3 Days. The Town, The Castle, Walks And Food

Summer has been and gone (all too quickly if you ask me) and life is gradually returning to our usual rest-of-the-year routine. I don’t mind the autumn, in fact I love the cosiness of it (that and pumpkins of course 😁), but the hottest months are most definitely my favourite. From the delicious estival veggies to evening walks along the beach and the warm, carefree nights, I can safely say it’s the season I always miss the most.

But still, I’m not one to grumble, for too long at least, and we always find enjoyable ways to pass our time no matter what time of year it is. Long walking routes are now back in favour, as is baking all sorts of goodies in our far-too-hot-in-the-summer kitchen!

One rather marvellous diversion as September comes to an end is Pep’s birthday vacation. He quite conveniently becomes one year older towards the end of his school’s summer holiday, giving us the perfect excuse to get away for a few days before he goes back to work. Last year we had a lovely little break in Chulilla, just inland of Valencia (post here). The walks there are really beautiful.

We would normally go away for 5-6 days but due to unforeseen circumstances we had to shorten it slightly. Because of this we didn’t want to travel too far to our chosen destination, the more time out of the car the better. A bit like our stay in Alcoy earlier on in the year (posts here and here).

Over 25 years ago now (can’t quite believe that) a friend and I decided to have a day out in Xàtiva. It was during August and little did we know the “Feria de Agosto” (August Fair) was taking place. The place was heaving. All I remember about it, apart from it being extremely hot, was the incredible atmosphere that filled the centre of the town. I have always wanted to return, not necessarily while the Fair is taking place, to explore some of the streets that were then full to the brim with people.

Xàtiva is only an hour and a quarter away from Benissa, it was the perfect place to spend our 72 hour break. The fact that there is a famous castle there, perched on the hill above the town, also helped us choose this location over so many others.

Trending

The Albir Lighthouse Walk And Lunch At The Indian Restaurant “Tiffin”

We’d booked an apartment in the old town, in the Plaça del Mercat. I highly recommend these apartments, they’re very modern and super clean (booking.com page here). We stayed in the smaller studio, it was perfect for our needs. We arrived just before lunch so we sampled the food in one of the square’s restaurants and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring parts of the town.

It isn’t the most picturesque town in the Valencian Community but certain parts are definitely worth having a meander around. It is a very historic town though, the fair I mentioned earlier dates back to 1250. If you’d like to read about its past you can do so here. It’s in Spanish first, then English.

The following day we wandered up to the castle. Tickets cost 6€ each (4€ for people between 8 and 16 years old and pensioners) and you can buy them at the entrance although it’s preferable to order online. You can do so here. You’ll need to specify what day and time you would like to go (it’s closed on Mondays) but once you’re there you can stay as long as you want (until they close of course). The tickets also allow you entry into the municipal museums of Xàtiva, one being the museum of Bellas Artes. We didn’t have time though.

We walked up to the castle, it took around 30 minutes from where we were staying. You can go in your car and park quite close to the entrance, although there aren’t too many spaces and I don’t think they allow you to on Sundays and holidays. Another option is to travel there on the tourist train (info here), but it only runs at the weekend and on holidays (I think).

It’s a fascinating castle to spend a couple of hours (or more) exploring. It’s chock-full of history, far too much for me to ramble on about now. If you’d like to know a bit more then take a look at this website (it’s in English). We would have stayed for lunch at the restaurant Talaia del Castell (website here) but they were fully booked. The reviews are very good but I would definitely advise reserving a table, especially at the weekend.

Moving on. As always, whenever we visit somewhere new we try and find a decent walking route close to the town. It’s rare for there not to be a few close by and Xàtiva was no exception. We opted on possibly the most well known. During the morning we made sure we knew exactly where it started from (with the days getting shorter we can’t afford to lose any time getting lost), so that after lunch we could embark on the 4 and a half hour walk.

The PRV 78 Cova Negra route is classified as a medium difficulty walk, mainly due to a longish ascent and a long descent (what goes up must come down), just before the halfway point, but also due to the duration of the trail. We were lucky and arrived back in Xàtiva just before dark. And here are a few hundred pics that I took whilst enjoying the beautiful route 😁.

When we arrived back at the apartment we were pretty shattered. We still had to have dinner though, all that walking had made us quite peckish. Thankfully we’d reserved a table at a restaurant just down the road from where we were staying. Now before I tell you all about it I need to mention our dining experience during our short break. Basically it was pretty crap. Never have we visited a town and been so unlucky with our choice of eateries.

Earlier on that day, before our walk, we were strolling to the restaurant we had booked for our lunch (I won’t mention names seeing as it wasn’t too wonderful). Just before we arrived we noticed the a la carte menu on the outside wall of a small diner called Ganesh (website here, Facebook page here). Quickly contemplating the variety of dishes we knew we had to try it. Dishes from all over the world filled the menu, from samosas to tacos and falafel to pyttipanna (a Swedish dish).

It would be our last night in Xàtiva and we were determined to have a decent meal during our stay. I always try and include at least one restaurant we have enjoyed eating in in the posts I write of our travels, until then I couldn’t mention any of them. Luckily they open Sunday night so we quickly booked a table and whizzed off to sample another mediocre meal just around the corner 🙄.

We’d booked a table outside as the nights were still very mild. The tables are set up on the street but there isn’t too much traffic, the odd mad driver zooming by (quite normal in the old town of Xàtiva) but that was about it. The waitress was very friendly and helpful. There are quite a few vegan choices on the menu, we ordered the homemade Nachos Tex Mex, substituting the dairy cheese for vegan cheese (Pep loathes ordinary cheese). This was followed by the vegan burger and Pad Thai. They have two choices of vegan burgers, one that they make and another that emulates a meat burger but they don’t make this themselves. We chose the homemade one. We shared everything and it was all scrumptious. At last!!

The dessert menu also features puds that sound very tasty, all from different continents. We were quite full but one of them had caught my attention, the ginger sorbet, a typical dish from Central Africa. The waitress warned me that it was quite strong, explaining that spicy ginger was the main ingredient here. I love ginger so we ordered it to share. They serve it with a small amount of cava to help calm the hotness of the ginger. It was delicious but blimey it was “picante”. I don’t think I could have eaten a whole one, you certainly have to take your time over it. Still, we weren’t in a rush and it’s good for the digestion 😁.

Apart from this extremely tasty meal we also discovered that in Xàtiva they know how to make incredibly good “cremaets”, the “carajillo quemado” that Pep and I both used to savour on our trips to Oropesa. I spoke about them in my post here and showed how to make them (and make a vegan ice cream with them) here.

We left the apartment on a Monday morning. Not wanting our holiday to end too soon we spent the day visiting beautiful nature spots close to Xàtiva. First the Albufera de Anna, a lake which gets its water supply from various subterraneous springs. It was beautiful in the morning sun.

One of the streams that flows away from the lake ends its course in the first waterfall of the “Tres Cascadas de Anna” (three waterfalls). This would be our next stop. We park in Anna and walk to the beginning of the route. There are blue and white lines that lead you along the trail. The waterfalls used to supply energy to many of the towns mills and factories since the XII century. The route we followed would be the one the workers used on their way to their daily grind. Now the trail is solely used for recreational use.

It’s such a beautiful area, so serene and peaceful. Again we were lucky it was Monday and there was nobody around. The previous day I’m sure it would have been quite crowded.

We could have stayed all day but we still had a couple of places to tick off our list so we walked over the little bridge and gradually made it back to our car.

When we reached our car we realised we were a tad hungry. Being a Monday most of the restaurants were closed, nowhere was offering a cheap menu del día. Fortunately we found a typical run-of-the-mill bar just as we were leaving Anna, Bar Rechol. It was cheap and cheerful but we didn’t need anything more. We ordered two bocadillos. I rarely eat products with gluten in, I feel better without it. But when we’re on holiday I let my hair down a bit 😁.

I don’t think we could have come to a better place in that area to eat one of the Spanish staples. Bread from a bakery (none of that supermarket junk or frozen baguettes) was crammed full of our chosen fillings. And they only cost 4€ each. A plate of peanuts (which are free, you don’t need to ask for them), 1 Aquarius, a litre and a half bottle of water, 2 bocadillos and 2 coffees cost us 13€!

On to the last couple of stops of our journey. First a few minutes at the Río de Bolbaite. This scenic little area sits just off the road as you’re leaving Bolbaite. A walk down a few steps and you’re there. During the summer they charge a small fee to enter. But on a Monday at the end of September it’s free, even if it was boiling hot. If I’d have had my bikini I would have jumped in. Instead we sat on the side for a while with our feet dangling in the very cool water.

The next and final place we visited was the “Charcos de Quesa”, various natural pools that have been formed by the narrowing of the río Grande. It’s approximately 10 kilometres drive from Quesa and what a beautiful drive it was, through thick forests of pine trees and olive tree fields. It looked beautiful in the afternoon sun. Close to the “Charcos” there are a a few different walking routes but we didn’t have time for them so we parked the car and walked a few hundred metres to the pools.

And that’s where our mini break comes to an end. We had a lovely time and, although brief, a few days away does wonders for our energy levels. I’m afraid it’s quite a long post. Whenever I start writing I think it’s going to be short and sweet but then I can’t shut up!! Oh well, it makes up for not writing anything for the past month.

Before I go just a quick photo of a rather large onion we harvested a couple of weeks ago. This year the onions weren’t as big as last year but there was one specimen that was our biggest ever.

Ok, I best be off. I was going to tell you about a couple of restaurants close by that we’ve had a lovely meal in but I think I best leave it tell next time. That’s quite enough drivel for one day 😁. Thanks for reading. Take care all of you. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx