Valencia, Spain - on the way to Sagunto Castle

 I decided to rent a car for a week, that's how long Gord will be here and I wanted to see some places without having to deal with sporadic bus schedules.

We drove about 20 minutes on open roads with roundabouts and lined by orange orchards before having to deal with the narrow streets of Sagunto.

 

Behind the church we found a museum and got directions to the castle; "turn right then up, up up."

I will have to come back to this museum but today the destination was the castle.

The old town has meandering narrow streets that open into small squares.

I spotted this little chapel up a side street and as the door was invitingly open, had to investigate. The Hermitage of the Most Pure Blood. 

Blue ceramic tile dome and ceiling paintings inside. There was a young man just inside the door who was there to answer questions and we had lots:

The interior was full of the religious floats, pasos, that are used during Santa Semana parades. 

There was also a display of the hand embroidered belts made for the same event.

Gold thread.

We continued up, up, up.

Until we got too

the renovated Roman Amphitheatre.

It is used for live performances now

with parts of the original in evidence.

Valencia, Spain - leisurely walk

 After the long walk to Segunto market we took it easy the next day. Just a short walk and Rick also walked to the grocery store.

We walked north up the coast.

 

A walk I had done a couple of times before,

but Rick had not.

We saw this strange looking bottle shaped tree with spikes coming out of the trunk, in a couple of yards,

with fruit that look like avocados.

On looking it up, I found it was a Silk Floss Tree, native to South America but grown around the Mediterranean as a decorative tree. 

 

Our gourmet dinner dessert, strawberry and nutella crepes.

Gord arrived late, after a few days in England , but still a bit jet lagged.

Finally Rasta photos:

 

Valencia, Spain - Puorto Sagunto market again

Rick said he was feeling up to it so we headed off to Puorto Sagunto as its Thursday, market day.

So many beautiful oranges.

We bought carrots, bananas (you have to buy them by the kilo, which was about 12 bananas), strawberries (also by the kilo, for 2.5 Euro, about $4) and 2 kinds of olives (the stall owner gave us samples to try).

The olive oil only came in these huge containers, they look to be about 6 litres.

Flowers have now been planted outside the municipal building. Cyclamen.

Another example of those weird Banyan trees. The roots on this one had nearly reached the ground to start creating another trunk.

Cattle egret in the dunes.

Getting pretty tired now (especially jet lagged Rick) so we stopped for lunch at the place by the beach.

We started with drinks - I had an agua con gas and a vino tinto and Rick had an orange fanta. When you order alcoholic drinks here, with no food, they bring you nuts or olives. When we had quenched our thirsts we each had a tostada, mine with cheese, Ricks with ham.

While we were sitting there the wind came up, blowing the sand on the beach and kicking up white caps on the water. We got blown home, with grey clouds threatening and glimpses of rainbows.

 

Another plant on the passieg about to bloom. No idea what it is so will watch for the flowers.

Meanwhile, at home, my cat sitter, Isabelle sends me photos of Rasta and the plants, proof of life.

 

Rick said Rasta seemed to know something was going on, he was extra clingy before he left.

Valencia, Spain - win some, lose some in Sagunto

 Rick arrives today, lands around 6:30 and then has to get luggage and a taxi. So no point in waiting around for him. Haven't been in the same time zone for the last month. Walked to Puorto de Segunto again with a couple of things I wanted to check out: bike/scooter hire and bus schedule from there.

As I was walking along by the sea I noticed that there was someone in the municipal offices, that have always been empty. I went in, not sure what she was doing there, and she certainly wasn't sitting in the tourist office section. She didn't speak English but with my limited Spanish and lots of gestures, I asked if she could photocopy the bus schedule that was posted in the window. After a couple of false starts (I don't think the printer had been used in months), I finally have "hard copies", my preference.

 

All the sand that was on the road has been dumped back onto the beach. Just waiting for another storm to send it inland again.

Still dredging and almost full, very low in the water and water pouring out of the hopper that holds the sand.

Sitting right at the marina mouth so anyone going in has to make their way around him.

Way out on the horizon, it looks like a ferry. Probably going into Valencia.

Ferries from Valencia, Spain,

offer regular, year-round connections to the Balearic Islands (Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Mahón) and Algeria (Mostaganem, Oran, Algiers). Key operators including Balearia, Trasmed GLE, and Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) provide around 59 weekly sailings, with options for passengers to take vehicles. From AI summary.

There are more spring flowers starting to emerge

 

along the path.

At the same place I had breakfast last time, I had lunch this time. Tostada con tomate y queso, with the coffee and orange juice. One Euro more (5.50) than breakfast.

There's a coolish breeze today so they had the plastic screens down, makes for a mildly distorted photo.

People at the table next to me left and the sparrows immediately swooped in for the crumbs.

Pigeons on the other hand just make themselves at home.

I walked into Sagunto, following google maps directions, and found the bike shop but was informed that they only rent for the Sagunto decathalon, not just to tourists. Oh well. I had found a bakery on the way and that was a win.

Walking back towards the sea, there was a Carrefour. I have shopped at a lot of these in Europe and they seem to cater to British tourists. Of interest was that it opens on Sundays, though it is an "express" so not a full size supermarket.

Carrefour (lit: « intersection » or “crossroads”) is a multinational distribution chain of French origin. It is considered the first European group, within walking distance in net revenue of the German company Schwarz Gruppe (matrix of Lidl and Kaufland), and the third in the sector worldwide^{. 3]} In 2024, the group had 14 000 stores in 40 countries.^[[4] 5381 stores in France, 4830 stores in the rest of Europe, 1036 stores in Latin America and 235 in Asia, as well as 487 stores in countries under agreement^{. 5]}​  from Wikipedia. (interesting translation from Spanish)

Googled it and its a US company but the products for sale in Spain are made in Spain, under license.

 

Heinz is also American but for the European market most of the sauces are made in the Netherlands.

 

This is definitely Spanish. I buy it in Canada for about 3 times the price. I would have bought some but didn't want to carry it back.

Who knew? a route from Sagunto that ends at Santiago de Compostela.

The Camino de Sagunto follows the route that connects Sagunto beach with Santiago de Compostela, passing through the provinces of Valencia, Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza. It links in Tozalmoro (Soria) with the Camino Castellano-Aragonés and later in Mamolar (Soria) with the Route of the Wool, which joins in Burgos to the French Way.    

This Camino de Santiago dates back possibly to the 13th century and was the one followed by Italian pilgrims who landed in Murviedro, Saguntina coast. There are indications about a possible Roman causeway between Saguntum and Cesaraugusta (the present-day Zaragoza), founded as a colony of Rome in 14 B.C., on the Iberian city of Salduie.    

The route starts on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, it is hard and demanding. In its tour it does not have a fully consolidated infrastructure of hostels or places of reception to pilgrims, which makes this route a real adventure for the pilgrim, although little by little places to sleep are achieved.   from caminosaguntosantiago.com 

I was interested to see that the Phragmites that are invasive (and being eradicated) in the wetlands of Ontario are native here and are the canet (canes) in the towns name.

 

The dredger had taken its load of sand and dumped it just of Sagunto beach. It was now back (higher in the water) to dredge some more.

 

Rick has landed in Valencia and texted that it looks like customs will take a while. Then he will taxi here.