12 November ’05, Saturday.
We woke this morning to the sound of rain hitting the top of “Bumble Bee”, but by the time I was out the door for my shower, it had stopped. From that point throughout the rest of the day, it was slightly overcast, but overall a nice day. One of our fellow campers had been telling Louise about this hill top village about 65 km away that they had found to be very interesting. Well, with nothing else planned, we put “Bumble Bee” in gear and headed out. 35-38 miles doesn’t sound so far, but when it is in new territory, it gets longer. Besides, we had to go over a 3600’ pass that wasn’t exactly straight. While climbing, we noticed the tall red and black poles alongside the road. These are used by those that have the job of removing the snow from the roads. Funny thing, when we were just about to the top, I noticed across the valley something that looked like snow to me. Louise said no, it was some low white buildings…it was snow. Our first snow sighting this year. A little further past the pass, as we came around a corner, we saw our hill top village destination. Morella. The hill is like an upside down funnel, and at the very top on a solid rock formation, is The Castle of Morella. The village sits below and is completely surrounded by the castle walls. The castle is of Muslim origin, and for centuries has been a strong strategical location for many Spanish battles. As we drove up the gates of the walled village, we were met by a young lady that sent us off to another area for parking. There are no vehicles allowed inside the walls (except those that live there, and most of them don’t have a car). As we walked through the gates of the village it was like stepping back to the 13th and 14tgh centuries. The little shoppes were all set up and looking sooo inviting. The specialties of the village were some of the finest wool sweaters, scarves, ponchos, and blankets of all descriptions (fact is, I bought myself one of those sweaters). Also it was easy to find the local wines, cheese, and meats (I bought some of that toooo). Making our choice of a restaurant turned out to be our toughest job of the day. After making that decision, we then had to make our decision on what grand items we wanted to choose for our lunch. We have found that ordering the “Daily Menu” has been the way to go. We get 4 or 5 separate servings and a bottle of wine, desert, and coffee for about $10 each. Today for our main entry, Louise had pork filet, and I had a Tuna steak (we have also adopted the European way of eating…larger meal in the afternoon and a small snack for the evening). Now, charged with food, we head out to see the town, shoppes, cathedral, convent and castle. We needed that energy boost, as everything we wanted to see was straight up hill, and most of that was using steps. At the top of the town we found the The Royal Convent and the Cathedral of Sanata Maria la Major…both were very nice and special, although it has been a long time since the convent has seen any sisters living or teaching there. Then about another 200 feet of shear rock above them was the castle. The castle was in fair condition, and what we saw was worth the walk to the top. We walked through every doorway, tunnel, crawl space, gate, nook and cranny and had a blast. We saw more of the castle than most of the invaders ever saw, because it was so well fortified. Again the short days have caught us taking too long, so off we go. As I sit here now, I can hear that we have some more rain coming down. Let’s hope it will only last a short time…we need sun…SUN…
We woke this morning to the sound of rain hitting the top of “Bumble Bee”, but by the time I was out the door for my shower, it had stopped. From that point throughout the rest of the day, it was slightly overcast, but overall a nice day. One of our fellow campers had been telling Louise about this hill top village about 65 km away that they had found to be very interesting. Well, with nothing else planned, we put “Bumble Bee” in gear and headed out. 35-38 miles doesn’t sound so far, but when it is in new territory, it gets longer. Besides, we had to go over a 3600’ pass that wasn’t exactly straight. While climbing, we noticed the tall red and black poles alongside the road. These are used by those that have the job of removing the snow from the roads. Funny thing, when we were just about to the top, I noticed across the valley something that looked like snow to me. Louise said no, it was some low white buildings…it was snow. Our first snow sighting this year. A little further past the pass, as we came around a corner, we saw our hill top village destination. Morella. The hill is like an upside down funnel, and at the very top on a solid rock formation, is The Castle of Morella. The village sits below and is completely surrounded by the castle walls. The castle is of Muslim origin, and for centuries has been a strong strategical location for many Spanish battles. As we drove up the gates of the walled village, we were met by a young lady that sent us off to another area for parking. There are no vehicles allowed inside the walls (except those that live there, and most of them don’t have a car). As we walked through the gates of the village it was like stepping back to the 13th and 14tgh centuries. The little shoppes were all set up and looking sooo inviting. The specialties of the village were some of the finest wool sweaters, scarves, ponchos, and blankets of all descriptions (fact is, I bought myself one of those sweaters). Also it was easy to find the local wines, cheese, and meats (I bought some of that toooo). Making our choice of a restaurant turned out to be our toughest job of the day. After making that decision, we then had to make our decision on what grand items we wanted to choose for our lunch. We have found that ordering the “Daily Menu” has been the way to go. We get 4 or 5 separate servings and a bottle of wine, desert, and coffee for about $10 each. Today for our main entry, Louise had pork filet, and I had a Tuna steak (we have also adopted the European way of eating…larger meal in the afternoon and a small snack for the evening). Now, charged with food, we head out to see the town, shoppes, cathedral, convent and castle. We needed that energy boost, as everything we wanted to see was straight up hill, and most of that was using steps. At the top of the town we found the The Royal Convent and the Cathedral of Sanata Maria la Major…both were very nice and special, although it has been a long time since the convent has seen any sisters living or teaching there. Then about another 200 feet of shear rock above them was the castle. The castle was in fair condition, and what we saw was worth the walk to the top. We walked through every doorway, tunnel, crawl space, gate, nook and cranny and had a blast. We saw more of the castle than most of the invaders ever saw, because it was so well fortified. Again the short days have caught us taking too long, so off we go. As I sit here now, I can hear that we have some more rain coming down. Let’s hope it will only last a short time…we need sun…SUN…