In the hills of Costa Blanca

Travelled : 241km
Visited: Xativa
Stay: North of Valencia at beach side resort town of Canet d'en Berenguer- free parking (pay in summer), no services  N39.6764 W0.203925

Our travel books lured us into the mountains, so we said goodbye to Costa Blanca and made our way to Alcoi. 

Near where we stayed last night...more apartments getting built.

View of Alicante.

Seen of few horse and carts but a bit hard on the bigger roads.

 On the way we stopped at the highest pass 1020m to have breakfast whilst enjoying the hazy view of the coast. 

Over the hill we experienced greener and a more fertile countryside. 

We took a narrow but pretty road to Bocairent where we were hoping to visit the facinating cave system made by the Moors to store their harvest grain and the underground ice cave where snow was sold for food preservation.  Unfortunately they were closed Monday. 

So we continued on and finally made a stop in Xativa. On our approach we noticed the ruins of the Moorish - Gothic castle dominating the town high up on the hill. 

We managed to find a parking spot and got some information from one of the numerous boards on possible tourist walking routes throughout the old quarter. On our endeavours we did manage to spot a few sites and learn a bit of the towns history. We also found a nice spot for lunch in the shade of the beautiful trees lining the main street. 

The oldest fountain in Valencia Provence 

Yummy!

Door knocker of the day!

The cathedral.

After our visit we decided not to visit the big city of Valencia, although our GPS decided that we should still drive through it rather than take the freeway around it!  The roundabouts were huge with no lines so you just had to blend in...Along the way we did manage to spot a Valencia orange tree or two! 

After checking out a few spots on the northern shores for tonight we settled on this one, no sea views but a quiet treed spot. We went for a walk and can still not believe how many holiday apartments that stretch along the coast of Spain.

No sea views but parked just behind the dunes.