Belmonte

We had a good nights sleep in the airè at Chinchilla. It was quiet from 10pm onwards although the wind got up with some pretty big gusts and Wanda was rocking about.
At 6:30am we were both awake and to our disappointment it had started to rain for the first time in our trip. It was only light but as the sun rose at 7:15am we could see how murky it was and it looked like it was set in for the day.
At 10am we set off to the tourist information office to see if it was open. It was the first time we’d had to Don our coats and now the rain was heavier and the wind was blowing a gale. It felt like a British winters day.
Fortunately for us the tourist information office was open this morning and we were greeted by a friendly and enthusiastic little man who tried his best to explain about the castle exhibits on display in english.
The exhibition started with how Chinchilla was first built and it’s strategic position over the years and gradually went through the years explaining who had been in the castle, the wars it had been through right up until the end of the 18th century when the castle was turned into a prison which had deplorable conditions it’s entire working life until it was finally shut down in 1937.
Canons from the 15th century had been pulled from the moat along with concrete cannonballs, glass grenades and swords. It was a fascinating display and we were gutted the castle wasn’t open.
From the information centre we looked in the church, the doors were open for visitors but all the lights were off so although it was a fabulous building it looked a little dark and creepy with no lights on and no one inside.
From the church we headed uphill back to one of the hermitage’s which was still closed so we pressed on further uphill to see the cave houses. These cave houses were nothing like the ones in Galera. These cave houses looked like pixie houses you would see in a fairytale book with the white facades and white crooked chimneys with different coloured tops. It looked like toytown for trogs.
The rain was really coming down now and we were soaked through so we went back to Wanda, had fresh bread and jam again for breakfast with the gas fire on to dry out and then we packed up, filled the fresh water and emptied the grey and at the same time lost our rubber hose adapter down the drain and then left chinchilla.
We really need that rubber hose adapter and headed back to Albacete to a Leroy Merlin which is the euro B&Q to try and find one. Unfortunately they didn’t have exactly what we needed but they did have every other kind of adapter so we picked a few that would definitely fit the euro taps and we’ll have to manage.
From Leroy Merlin we could finally head to where we started to head to 4 days ago before heading through the national parks and getting distracted.
It was another 75 miles down the motorway to finally reach Belmonte and it was well worth the journey. We were greeted by a completely restored castle high up on a hill that looked formidable and glorious at the same time. The rain had now stopped and beams of sunshine fell on the castle giving it a glow from it’s sandstone facade.
We arrived in the car park of the castle just after 2pm and the Castle was just closing from it’s morning hours and would reopen at 3:30pm which we knew so we had 90 minutes to kill which gave us time for some lunch and a quick power nap before heading in, in the meantime we had the best view in the house of Belmonte castle as we were the only ones here.
Just after 3:30pm we paid our €7 each downloaded a free app that would guide us around the castle and we were in. From the moment we walked over the drawbridge we were amazed at the restoration. We were greeted in a huge courtyard that was the former training area for the 15th century soldiers. The whole bottom floor of the castle was cloistered and after going through a video introduction room we headed up to the first floor via an unbelievably decorated staircase. All of the ceilings were elaborately carved and most had thousands of individual original carvings all painted different colours. The underside of each wooden staircase was exactly the same. Each room had original furniture in including rugs and pictures from the 15th to the 18th century including a painting of Napoleon as the former Empress was french.
From the inside we headed back out to the courtyard to the armoury which housed original armour from the 16th century in immaculate condition and an array of weapons from spears to crossbows. We have never seen such a unique collection in such good condition. Finally we headed down in to the dungeon’s which had 3 tiny caved cells with iron doors and then a large cave area with torture devices, this is the first real dungeon we had been in and it was a real creepy insight.
We left the castle just after 5pm and drove to our parking spot about 200 meters away on a hilltop overlooking the castle. We had the best view in the house that money can’t buy even if the wind is giving us a battering. We parked Wanda up and then stood on the hillside watching the sunset behind the castle as the sky glowed orange and then pink and the castle was a black silhouette against a technicolor background. It was beautiful.
Then the castle lights came on and it was glowing against a midnight blue background as the sky turned to nautical twilight so we headed back to Wanda for dinner and watched the castle through the window while eating before settling in for the night.Read more