Spain Day 13 - Morrela to Mosqueruela

 

A very peaceful night with no sound other than the occasional barking dog and the church bells of the Morrela Basilica ringing the quarter hours. It’s s beautiful morning, so a swift cuppa and off to see the castle. In theory it’s not a long walk from the Aire, however there’s a lot of height to gain and we are keen to move on later so we pack up and move to he carpark on the edge of the town. The scale of the carpark makes it clear that this castle is a big deal for tourism but thankfully today only a handful of the hundreds of parking spaces are occupied. 

Only takes ten to climb up to the ticket booth, just as it opens at 11am….but it’s at the bottom of the hill and everything interesting is at the top! The castle is a stunner! We spent a couple of hours wandering around it’s many rooms and levels and marvelling at the views. A mixture of periods with one grand room housing an information centre that reverts to a cave part-way back. There was a useful downloadable audioguide that ran in our phones they gave enough info to understand the purposes of each space … but the Spanish talk fast even when they speak English!

The town itself is a picture perfect medieval settlement enclosed in substantial walls with regular gates and entrances. But the views go well beyond the town and we can see countryside and mountains that are miles away. It really is a pinnacle with huge vistas in every direction. 

Returning down the hill and past the little bullring adjacent to the ticket office, we stop for a drink in a square. Then it’s time for a wander around the town. Good timing on Graham’s part as we’ve now hit siesta time and shops are closed except for a couple selling tourist tat so I spend nothing! The buildings though are beautiful and we spend another couple of hours wandering amongst the key sites and trying to work out the timelines, as the Spanish information signs lacked detail and our audio guides only covered the castle. 

Back at the van for toasties with a view before hitting the road. We’d decided to keep inland and head further into the mountains. Our intended destination is a bit far to reach this evening so we’ve found a listing for an aire around an hour away on route. This also allows us to take a slower road and pass some other sites of interest.

Yet again the landscape is different. Mountainous and mostly covered in trees. The road snakes around the edges of hills as it climbs and falls. The tarmac is almost faultless…. Hard to believe to contrast with roads at home. There were a couple of narrower stretches but generally two cars wide and a delight to drive. Aside from some viewpoints we stopped at La Iguesula del Cid. A stunning town with orange stone buildings , perfect to see in evening light. Again set up for tourism but pretty much empty. Felt a little like a Disney village with immaculate houses and a beautiful church.. though there were also some 'awaiting renovation'. 

After this the land became more barren looking and terraces in all directions, though hard to see why as little evidence of farming other than some wandering livestock. 

We didn’t make it into Mosqueruela, but found the aire on the edge of town. Its unusually grassy and tucked between trees. A lovely picnicking spot that’s been adapted for campers and is no doubt very busy in summer. We are the only van here. There's an web site payment system but it didnt work for us as the online form didn’t like our UK format details. But we sent  the tourist office an email to explain. It's very quiet… hardly any noise at all. G checked the altitude which is higher than anywhere in the UK at over 4700 feet which explains all the snow markers on the way in, but hopefully none before morning!

Miles so far: 759

Steps today : 12,234 ( but mostly uphill so count double!)

Overnight: Aire at Mosqueruela 3.50 euro but we can’t make the online payment system work!