Morella to El Masroig

Travelled : 145km
Stay: El Masroig- free parking and services at a cellar door wine co-op. Small village with pleasant views. N41.126438 E0.733630
Visited: Morella, Valderrobres,  La Fresneda through the regions of Valencia,  Aragon and Catalonia

We had another pleasant day driving through the back roads of Spain. We started with a visit of Morella.

 We drove closer to the town and then walked through the streets as close to the castello as possible but did not wait until the 11 am opening time to go for a visit. On our way back through the village the shops were just starting to open at 10. 

The old aqueduct 

The main gateway

Giant puppets made in 1939 and used each year to celebrate both the Muslim and Christian cultures in the town.

Local products...how big is that Jamon!

Views of the church and Castello in the background

Not a door knocker today just a down pipe!

The valley of Jamon farms..

From here we took the N232 northwards through the valley of Jamon farms and then turned off to Valderrobres  in Aragon. We parked on the banks of the Pena River and crossed over the medieval bridge to enter the old town through the Torre San Roque. 

We were impressed by the grand main square before making our way up to the 13th century castle which had been commissioned by the archbishops of Zaragoza.

We then continued our drive to La Fresneda.

We stopped for a quick explore and enjoyed a refreshment in the Plaza Mayor. 

From here it was 80km to our stop for tonight in El Masroig. First taking a minor road through olive and almond orchards, then driving along the N420 through cherry and stone fruit orchards. 

Soon we were to be surrounded by vineyards....Our favourite!  It so happens that our stop is at a cellar door ... so of course we had to purchase some of the local product.

Almonds 

Pickers 

Vineyards 

The Ebre River, Spain's second largest.

Olive press.

The only way to buy wine at less than €1/litre

This is our stash...Bluey can't fit much more..will have to drink faster!

Not bad for free

Mora de Rubielos to Morella

Travelled:219km
Stay: Morella - aire free parking and services N40.624 W0.091198
Visited: Mora de Rubielos and Rubielos de Mora

We said goodbye to the Mediterranean and headed 100km inland again to Mora de Rubielos. 

We parked along the main street and walked through the town to go and visit one of the best preserved castles in the Aragon. It was just €3 each and we enjoyed our 1hour visit. 

The streets of Mora

View of the church from the castle

Some interesting models of catapults etc

The great hall

The dungeon

The basement

One of the many stonemason markers

We had a bite to eat sitting in the square next to the lovely fountain and the Gothic style church. 

View from the outer wall if the castle and the church.

Our next stop was Rubielos de Mora, which was a well to do place in the 15th to 17th century and this was reflected in the grand mansions throughout the town. We got a map from the tourist office and then walked around appreciating the architecture of the buildings. 

The tourist office

The gothic church with the 2nd widest nave in Spain.

 Then it was up into the mountains to the pass of Linares 1659m 

before continuing down on the A1701 through Mosqueruela. 

 The road then became a bit narrower and rougher, although they are at present working on it. We were amazed at the amount of dry stone walls in this area all they way to Morella. 

Dry stone huts

We love travelling on these back roads as it is always a surprise what you can encounter and the view of Morella did not disappoint.  

We parked in the free aire which offered great views of the town and took it easy. Although Mark did manage to re - silicon the shower and change the gas filter on the lpg system to see if that has been the cause of the water heater shutting down on ignition. So another long day on the road but a very pretty drive with some interesting towns.