June 7, 2024
Xátiva
The Forgotten Greek Letter
Ok, so there is no Greek letter Xátiva, of course, but it does sound like one to me. Either that, or a player in a Shakespearean play perhaps? In fact, the name of the town we headed for today, Xátiva, is derived from the surname of an Islamic scholar, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi from the 12th century, when the town was known for its schools, education, and intellectual circles.
Fun fact: Xátiva is located along the ancient route of the Via Augustus and its castle is claimed to be where Hannibal plotted his campaign for the siege of the Roman city of Saguntum (plus where his son was born in 218 BC).
The Muslims had settled here sometime in the 700’s, but this changed when the Empire finally fell to the Christians in 1492. Muslims were convert to Christianity or leave. Actually, it was far from a clear cut separation. It was a long and arduous change that involved much strife and suffering. Approximately three million Muslims emigrated or were driven out of Spain between 1492 and 1609, when those remaining and still adhering to Islam were ordered to leave Spain.
I knew none of this history when I chose Xátiva as the final cycling day of this tour. It made the itinerary simply because the train goes frequently to Valencia from here and I didn’t fancy cycling into a large city like Valencia, opting for a short train trip instead. To end our cycling in such a historic place with a beautiful old town was just the cherry on top of this beguiling and delicious adventure.
But, let’s take it from the top. Breakfast (English style) was offered by a cafe behind our Fisherman’s cottage, so we headed there first thing. We passed by the Italian restaurant where we had pasta the first night and said good morning the the young ladies who were already on the job.
The small sidewalk cafe we'd chosen for breakfast was located at the entrance to Els Magazinos, a covered street lined with small bars and cafès. I suspect the covers were to keep the heat out. It was brightly decorated with coloured fans. And, I should note that this being Denia, there’s a good chance of excellent food here since one of the best-kept secrets in all of Spain is that Denia is designated by UNESCO as a Creative City of Gastronomy. This is a foodies town.
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I wandered down the street to check out it out and took a few photos. Most places served drinks, light snacks and tapas, but the place with the aged beef in the window was no tapas bar.
The translations from Spanish to English constantly make me chuckle. The chicken’s fingers on the chalk board conjures up something quite different from chicken fingers.
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For breakfast, we had the ususal fresh-squeezed orange juice and con leche. David had avocado toast along with yoghurt and muesli and for me, it was a large bowl of yogurt and muesli with fresh fruit. Fully satisfied, we pushed off and made our way to the bike lane along the waterfront. We never did get a good photo of the castle so we took one last shot as we left the cafe.
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Denia’s old town is small and is a maze of streets like the one pictured below. Many are labelled in beautiful glazed, handmade tiles.
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We were embarking on a ride of 73 km today and we expected it to get quite warm just at the time when we would be climbing some hills in the afternoon.It was already in the mid-twenties when we left town and we had a slight cross-tail wind. That was helpful to nudge us along but we hoped it would not turn into a direct tailwind because the body temperature soars when that happens. As it turned out it blew across us almost all day.
We hadn’t seen Denia’s beach yet, so made a small diversion to take a look at it. The beach appeared to go on forever. There happened to be a beach volleyball net set up on the sand and I couldn't help but notice it was parallel to the shore. I wonder if it might be that way to even out the advantage of the prevailing winds here?
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2 months ago
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We sailed along the small highway near the shore for quite a distance. We came quite close to the large hill we rode over yesterday. Luckily, there was a saddle where we crossed, making it a much easier ride that this monster would have been.
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My call; find a beach close by, & enjoy the day! 🏖️ 🤭
2 months ago
By the time we arrived at Rotova around 1pm, it was hot out and we were ready for a snack and a drink. Rotova was another sleepy town, just a few people around and most business were closed. We rooted through our panniers for left-overs and found a bench at a bus stop (aka shade) to nosh on them. The hilly section of the ride was ahead of us, so we began looking for a mercado for some real food. On the first pass, it looked like we would be skunked but through the kindness of strangers, we were directed to a small grocer and a panaderia, which came through with flying colours. The baker here really knew their trade. We came away with cold drinks and two cheese, ham and lettuce bunwiches that we stashed in our panniers, and then moved on up the hill out of town.
We were fortunate to find a small secondary road beside the highway that took us up a series of hills between here and our destination. The olive trees in the terraced hillsides looked to be taking their last gasps before climate change took its toll on them. Sad to see. Others were still doing ok. The land in the lower areas was cultivated with almonds, peaches and olives, along with some vegetable crops. Overall, it looked quite productive. The views across the landscape from the summits reminded us of northern Italy, hilly and green.
When we reached Quatretonda, we found a park with benches in the shade so we stopped here for the lunch break. I wouldn’t normally get too excited by a bunchwich but the bun was so fresh and delicious, and that’s when we really knew it was a skilled baker at the panaderia in Rotova. Maybe I should have picked up a pastry, after all. Phooey.
As we sat, we watched the goings-on at the bar across the street where a group of young 20-somethings were hanging out drinking beer and wine. It struck me how often we see behaviours here that we don’t see at home, mainly to do with how people relax. For example, it is common to see people, from late teens up to septuagenarians, sitting at sidewalk cafèe any time of day, drinking beer or wine, or coffee. Yes, there are the clusters of retired gents drinking and chatting as in most Mediterranean locales, but I am speaking of the general population. My guess is plunking yourself down for a drink in the morning or afternoon is related to the heat which affects activities in general and makes sitting at outdoors so appealing. But, alcohol that early in the day? That’s unusual in my world. But, there’s more to it. For one thing, most people live in rather modest apartment-style homes so town squares with cafês and bars are integral to these places. It also appears to be a very social society here in Spain and it is noticeably multi-generational. We often say it’s these outdoor cafès we love but it’s also that multi-generational socializing that we really enjoy being a part of when we travel in Europe. The delicious cafè con leches’s and cervesas are also wonderful, of course.
We left Quatretonda fully hydrated and satiated. The final climb of the day took us up through a pine forest of La Vall d’Albaida to about an elevation of 300m. From there it was a long glide downhill all the way to Xátiva, which is situated at the base of a rocky ridge, topped off with an extensive defensive wall and castle.
Here’s a glimpse of what it was like when the rubber hit the road.
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We cruised into town and made our way through the maze of tiny lanes to our hotel. There we were met by Josep who showed us to our top floor room with a wooden-beamed ceiling and low windows. He gave me an orientation of this historic town and explained how the rooftop terrace, a floor above us, is a great place to see the castle from the Roman, Gothic and Islamic periods, lit up at night.
There are actually two castles here, the Castillo Menor and Castille Mayor, the lesser castle and the main castle. Castle Menor sits atop Roman and Iberian ruins and is the older of the two castles. Castle Mayor is the more recently built Medieval castle. I did not visit the castle, due to time constraints, but the photo below from valenciaandgo.com shows its placement on the knife-edge ridge and how big the complex is.
Interestingly, many of the buildings here date back only as far as the 1800’s. The reason? It was pillaged and lit on fire by order of Filipe V in 1707. Today, the people of Xàtiva are known as socarrats in the Valencian language which literally means burnt!
There are oodles of interesting pleaces to see in Xátiva for anyone wanting to come here, including a Museum of Fine Arts. I do recommend it.
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Dining in Xativa is on par with other places in the region. It gets top marks, making it hard to choose. Josep told us about el Tunel, one of his favourites so at 7:50, we headed there and knocked on the door. yay. They had a table but we had to return at 8pm. We felt very lucky to get a table.
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 1,149 km (714 miles)
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