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Iglesia de Santa María

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    • TravelerVan life
      Day 18

      Peniscola!

      February 10, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

      Arrêt à Peniscola : un des plus beaux villages d'Espagne (c'est le guide qui l'a dit !)
      C'est une ville médiévale, située sur une péninsule rocheuse, elle s’avance dans la mer telle une forteresse surmontée d’un magnifique château celui du Pape Benoît XIII (Aka Papa Luna pour les amateurs de papauté)

      Son centre historique est formé par des ruelles étroites où rivalisent maisons bleues et blanches ornées de plantes en tout genre.

      En chemin une curiosité : la casa de las conchas comprendre la maison de coquillages.
      Pour la petite histoire c'est une famille modeste qui décida de décorer la façade entière avec des coquillages du pays en raison de leur amour pour la mer. Ils échangerent du tabac contre des coquillages avec des marins dans la région.

      La vue sur la péninsule depuis la plage est top et après une belle après-midi de visite nous ne pouvons que confirmer ce que dit le guide ! 👍

      Évidemment on occultera les immeubles disgracieux et sans harmonie qui ont poussé le long du littoral...

      Et pour info nous entamons notre remontée pour la France ce soir... Heureusement il nous reste quelques jours pour encore manger des tapas 😜      Read more

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    • ¡Hola España!
      22
      Day 62–63

      Peñíscola 🫶

      January 31 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

      Am vergangenen Mittwoch hieß es endgültig Abschied nehmen von Miami Playa und den tollen Menschen und Freunden, die wir kennenlernen durften 🧡

      Aber von einer lieben Familie noch nicht…wir durften von Mittwoch auf Donnerstag bei lieben Freunden aus der Versammlung, die in Peñíscola wohnen,mit unserem Bus stehen. 😍 Außerdem versorgten sie uns dort mit typisch spanischen Spezialitäten: Calçots und Alcachofas vom Grill - das war wirklich ein cooles Essen 👌🏽

      Am Abend haben wir noch die Altstadt mit ihrer Burg besichtigt und Donnerstag morgen ging es für uns weiter…➡️      Read more

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    • TravelerEin Jahr Europa
      Day 289

      Peñíscola & Vilafamés

      January 19, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

      Ich setze meinen Weg nach Süden fort und fahre entlang der Küste bis in die Region der Valencianischen Gemeinschaft.
      Hier erreiche ich Peñíscola, deren hübsche kleine Altstadt auf einem ins Meer ragenden Felsen liegt. Das angenehm wärmende Sonnenlicht lässt die weißen Fassaden erstrahlen und ihre farblich abgesetzten Türen und Fenster passen perfekt zu den Nuancen des Wassers und der Felsen.
      Einige Kilometer weiter im Landesinneren zeigt sich mir ein etwas andere Atmosphäre. Auch hier gibt es weiße Häuser, aber das markante Baumaterial ist der lokale rote Sandstein. Das mittelalterliche Castillo oberhalb der Stadt scheint mit diesen Felsen verwachsen zu sein und bietet einen tollen Ausblick auf die landwirtschaftlich genutzte Ebene und darüber hinaus.      Read more

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    • LadyandtrampAndalucia, Spain
      Day 12

      The Amazing Peñíscola Castle

      January 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

      The castle was another Wow for us. We only paid $5 Cdn (seniors’ rates) to get into this wonderful place.

      In 1233, Peñíscola, which had been under the control of the Arabs (it was a Moorish citadel) since 718, was given to King James of Aragon. In 1294, it was passed over to the Order of the Temple. It was at this point that the Knights Templar built their last great fortress here between 1294 and 1307. After this they disappeared and became nothing more than a legend.

      The castle is located on the highest point of the city. It was built with walls of carved stone and most of the rooms had barrel vaults. It is solidly built and an imposing building.

      The minute we walked into the castle, we felt history. It has been well taken care of and has been used in several films including the Game of Thrones and El Cid with Sophia Loren and Charlton Heston.

      An interesting fact - When they filmed El Cid at this castle, back in 1961, there were a lot of rather inconvenient modern houses spoiling the shot. No fancy digital graphics existed back then – so the film-makers had to build a huge wall and a gate to disguise it all. The set was so enormous, it apparently made the Guinness Book of Records for a while. Many of the townsfolk were enlisted as extras.

      The first six rooms focussed on two centuries of the Templars’ glories, heroes, defeats, struggles and their daily work as a Christian military force. Then we went up and down stairs exploring the stables, the cisterns, halls, church and even the dungeon with its chains.

      It was also the residence of Benedict XIII, who turned it into a palace and papal library when he moved to Peñíscola in 1411. Known as Papa Luna, he had been excommunicated from the papacy but refused to step down. He moved into the castle after being accused of being heretic and a traitor by the Church, and he died alone and poor in 1423.

      We were able to go into his rooms where he defended his rights and wrote his last texts. The people here respect him for what he did and even now talk about his strength. He led a pretty interesting life.

      We really enjoyed exploring this castle and reading the well-written signposts that were written in several languages.

      At the foot of the castle is the Artillery Park where its gunpowder storage areas, weapons and cannons are displayed. At present the area has been made into a botanical garden where visitors can enjoy the lush vegetation of palm trees, olive trees, lavender and native plants. From here we could see the north beach of Peñíscola and also the Mediterranean sea that meets the walls of the city in the fortress. It is a calm place now with beautiful views.

      We have sore knees and backs but it was worth the pain.      Read more

    • LadyandtrampAndalucia, Spain
      Day 12

      Peñíscola and its Castle in the Sea

      January 14 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

      Our travel day was quite the day! It all started well. We walked to the Vilanova train station, bought a ticket to Benicarlos, the nearest town to Peniscola, and caught the train at 10:50 a.m. We paid about $20 Cdn per ticket that we think is quite inexpensive for a 4 hour train ride.

      The train took us along the seaside and then into olive and mandarin orange groves. It’s orange season here and the trees were loaded with fruit. At one point the train started going backwards and we wondered whether we were headed back to Vilanova. But no, the train was just changing tracks..

      We arrived at the empty Benicarlos train station at close to 2 o’clock. It’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We knew we had to take the bus to Peniscola (Pen-yis-cola)b ut we may have just missed one, as we saw that the next bus was coming in an hour. A friendly young lady was there with us and took us under her wing. She told us to follow her to a busier bus stop, 1+ km away, and we went off at a fast clip. This is when our ‘light’ backpacks felt awfully heavy. Haha. We made it to our accommodation, called Chiki, by 3:30 pm and what a surprise it was.

      We knew that it would be within the walled city around the Peniscola castle but didn’t really know what to expect. We had to walk up lots of stairs, through a tunnel entrance to the town and then up even further on cobblestone streets past whitewashed houses.

      Finally we found it. Sonia, the owner met us and showed us our room, which was actually a small apartment. Our bedroom was probably in what was the living/dining room. There was a kitchen and bathroom too. The original bedroom was closed off. We had a microwave and beer fridge as well as a coffee machine. It is a great little place in the labyrinth of the town surrounding the castle.

      Once we put our bags in the room, we went off to find a place to eat. There were a ton of places here. We decided on a seafood restaurant outside of the wall and enjoyed eating a fish, squid, fries and salad dinner. We took home some tiramisu for later.

      Then off to find a grocery store. Apparently, it isn’t open on Sunday, so off we went to find the store and buy bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, yogurt and fruit for breakfast and lunch. A kind man showed us the way and enjoyed telling us the history of this place. He even offered to take us to a park but we told him that we only had a day here and we wanted to see the castle. If we had been here longer…

      By the time we got home, the beautiful Xmas decorations were on and the castle streets were magical with twinkly lights. We were pretty tired so we just relaxed, made plans for visiting the castle, watched a Reacher episode and went to bed.      Read more

    • LadyandtrampAndalucia, Spain
      Day 13

      Valencia and Our Apartment

      January 15 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Now on to Valencia…

      After having breakfast and packing a light lunch, we caught the bus at 11:15 a.m. in Peniscola that took us to the train station in Benacarlo for the 12:26 p.m. train to Valencia. The train had a handful of people on it but as we progressed towards Valencia it filled up so there was standing room only. It took us about 2 1/2 hours and cost us around $20 Cdn each.

      The Norte train station in Valencia is beautiful. It is an art nouveau masterpiece that is still an active railway station 100 years after it opened. The Valencia City Guide describes it as, ".... a modernist jewel ... with Sezesion-Vienesa style ... On the front façade you can see the most typical elements of valencian culture: oranges, barracas (valencian traditional house), La Albufera (the lake), women dressed with traditional valencian dress."

      At present it is being renovated on the inside so we couldn’t really see the artwork but the outside is beautiful. The interior and exterior decorations (mosaics and ceramic tiles) were done as a tribute to the importance of the Valencian orange trade, Valencia oranges, at the turn of the century (completed in 1917).

      We easily found the Metro station and took Line 5 towards the marina to Ayora where our Air bnb apartment for 5 nights is located.

      Vivacious Carmen, our hostess, met us on the orangetree-lined road that the apartment is on and showed us with pride her beautiful place. What a treat to have such a lovely quiet place at a good price for an extended time.

      Men sit outside of little bars chatting about their day, drinking coffee, wine or beer. There are fruit and vegetables shops galore. Bakeries open at 6:30 a.m. Barber shops are at every corner. The bus stop is at the top of our street. On the next street we can rent bicycles or scooters for 5 Euros a day. The famous City of Arts and Sciences is at the other end of the street. Parks and gardens are everywhere.

      The huge grocery store is 5 minutes away and has everything! We are here for 5 nights so we went out and bought all sorts of Spanish goodies - wine, salad ingredients, mandarins, Serrano ham, cheese, bread, olives, sausage, etc. Lots of food for $70 Cdn!

      Carmen recommended a few of the many restaurants that are close by but we are happy eating breakfast and dinner here. Of course, we have to try Valencia’s famous paella.

      We haven’t really needed to wear many different clothes but it was time to do some laundry. We have a washing machine and clothesline here so did a couple of loads while we put away food and ate a tuna salad for dinner.

      It was quite a day, full of new experiences. We are looking forward to exploring Valencia tomorrow. I booked a free 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the old town for tomorrow afternoon. Should be interesting,

      Re clothes…everyone here wears jeans (or leggings), a T-shirt, running shoes and a jacket/vest, so we fit right in.      Read more

    • Winter '23
      1
      Day 19–20

      Peñiscola

      December 18, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

      Went to Miami Beach today! Then, a day of walking around the citadel of Peñiscola.

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Iglesia de Santa María, Iglesia de Santa Maria, Església de Santa Maria de Peníscola

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