Valencia - Llac Albufera and around Travel Guides | Valencia | Sub Regions | Valencia - Llac Albufera and around

The Llac Albufera, from the Arabic for ‘little sea’, sits about 8 km south of Valencia. It must have been beautiful once – it still can be at dusk – but usually it is hard to block out the massive factories that squat massively around it now. It’s been years since anyone swam here and pollution has taken its toll on the marine life. Ecologists have complained bitterly, but the problem of contamination by the local factories has yet to be seriously addressed. Despite the pollution, the area is still well known for its rice, used in the famous paella (which you can try at the dozens of restaurants in El Palmer and El Saler), and marshy wetlands are also home to several species of water bird. The beaches on this stretch of coast are wilder, emptier and less polluted than those to the north of Valencia’s port, but they have fewer amenities and are more difficult to get to by public transport.

 Sights

Parc Natural de l’Albufera/ Parque Natural de l’Albufera

Two thousand years ago, the Albufera lake covered 30,000 ha, but now it has shrunk to under 3,000 ha. Local fishermen say they can remember when the lake waters were clear, which may be a tad exaggerated, but it’s certainly true that pollution levels have rocketed in the last 50 years or so. The area was declared a natural park in 1987 in an effort to protect the fragile ecosystem and the flora and fauna which it supports. It’s one of the most important wetlands in the whole of the Iberian peninsula, with more than 250 species of bird life alone. In the spring and autumn, those numbers are swelled by the arrival of migrating birds. The park area spreads well beyond the limits of the lake, and includes the pine forest and sand dunes along the stretch of coastline south of Saler.

El Palmar

Astonishingly, this little village was an island right up until the 1940s. A narrow road twists up from the lake, past a scattering of traditional, whitewashed thatched roof huts called barracas. The village itself is simple and low-key, but the main square is very pretty on summer evenings, particularly when the fishermen from the Cofradía de Pescadores (Fishermen’s Association) drag out their tables and chairs for a game of cards. There are just 400 fishermen on the lake today, who maintain the old traditions by assigning their calaes (fishing grounds) on the second Sunday in July when lots are drawn. If you are visiting in August, try and make the Festa del Cristo de la Salut (Fiesta del Cristo de la Salud) on 4 August, when the crucifix is taken from the local church and borne across the lake in a beautiful procession of flower-covered boats, before being returned to the chapel. The festival culminates with fireworks on the water’s edge, and plenty of carousing on the streets.

With the decline of the fishing trade, El Palmar has come to rely on the tourist trade, and it is famous for its restaurants, where you can try local dishes like paella, made with local rice, or all i pebre de anguilas, a spicy stew made with eels from the lake.

Platjas/Playas (Beaches)

North of Valencia: the Costa del Azahar

A fertile plain densely covered with orange groves stretches north of Valencia, scarred by ugly ceramic factories puffing acrid smoke. The beaches are popular with Spanish families and are particularly good around Benicàssim (which also has an excellent outdoor music festival). The main city, Castelló de la Plana, is no great shakes, but there are Roman ruins at Sagunt, a fascinating monastery at El Puig and the remarkable papal city of Peníscola piled on a rock.

Sights

El Puig

18 km from Valencia. Frequent trains,E 1.65 single, 20 mins. The train is more convenient than the buses which run hourly (Auvacar, T 961 260 084, single E 1.80).

El Puig is dominated by the forbidding Real Monestir/ Real Monasterio de El Puig de Santa María which looms above the little town. The monastery was built to celebrate the discovery of a miraculous statue of the Virgin and is still home to a community of monks. You can visit the cloisters, salons and beautiful Gothic church where the image of the Virgin still draws pilgrims from across Spain. One wing contains the Museu d'Arts Gràphiques/Museo de Artes Gráficas, devoted to print and graphics, which counts the world’s smallest book (visible through a magnifying glass) among its treasures, T 961 470 200. Tue-Sun 1000-1300, 1600-1900, admission by guided visit only, tours depart on the hour. Museum Tue-Sun 1000-1300, 1600-1900. E 1.80.

Sagunt/Sagunto

A few kilometres north of El Puig. Frequent trains, E 2.10 single, 30 mins. There are AVSA buses, T 922 671 416, about every 30 mins, single, E 2.10, 30 mins.

Sagunt is a sleepy little town piled onto a hillside under a ruined castle. It’s hard to imagine anything exciting ever happening here, but Sagunt made it into the history books in 218 BC when the Iberian villagers held out against Hannibal and his army for more than eight months. Finally, when defeat seemed imminent, they built a huge bonfire and threw themselves into the flames, choosing mass suicide over capitulation. The Romans rebuilt the city some years later and the most dramatic surviving monument in modern Sagunt is the Roman theatre, now restored (controversially, purists don’t like it) and the setting for summer concerts.

Almost nothing is left of Sagunt’s castle, but a stretch of walls, squares and watchtowers offering stunning views. Sagunt’s Judería (Jueria in Valanciano) is one of the oldest Jewish quarters in Spain, a dense labyrinth of compact, whitewashed houses, tiny passages and archways. The town is set back 5 km from the sea, but a small seaside resort, Port de Sagunt, has grown up around the port where the locals are apparently oblivious to the presence of an enormous steel mill.

Castelló de la Plana/Castellón de la Plana

Frequent trains: express trains E 12.50-14.50 single, 45 mins; regional trains E 3.75 single, 1 hr 5 mins. There are about 5 bus services a day, E 4, single with HIFE, T 902 119 814 (within Spain only),1 hr 10 mins.

Castelló is a modern, provincial capital with little in the way of sights or monuments but it does have some decent beaches spread out around the port (called the ‘Grao’). The best way to enjoy the town is to spend an evening at the tapas bars around the Plaza Mayor and then head out to one of the thudding discos – Castelló’s nightlife packs a few surprises. What remains of the old town (most of it was blasted to smithereens during the Civil War) is set back about 5 km from the Grao and the beaches, but there are shuttle buses every 15 minutes from Plaça Borrull.

The Museu de Belles Arts/Museo de Bellas Artes is set in an 18th-century mansion and contains works by Ribera, Ribalta, Sorolla and Benlliure, a small archaeological section, and an extensive collection of ceramics from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Av Hermanos Bou 28, T 964 727 500. Tue-Sat 1000-2000, Sun and holidays 1000-1400. E 2.10/1.20. Guided visits Wed and Fri at 1100, Tue and Thu 1730, Sun 1200. Free on Sun and holidays.

The Espai de’Art Contemporani de Castelló (EACC) is one of the city’s newest and slickest museums in a dazzling high-tech building with a changing programme of always interesting temporary exhibitions. C/Prim s/n, T 964 723 540. Tue-Sun 1100-2000. Guided visits Sat 1900 or Sun 1200. Free.

Benicàssim/Benicasim and El Desierto de las Palmas

Frequent trains: express trains E 12.50-14.50 single, 50 mins; regional trains E 4.25 single, 1 hr 10 mins. There are direct services from Valencia with HIFE, T 902 119 814 (within Spain only), E 4.30 single, about 1 hr 20 mins. Also local bus services from Castelló. You'll need your own transport to get to the monastery, or else take a taxi (about E 10).

Benicàssim is a popular family seaside resort, famous for the massive outdoor music festival held each year in August. Smattered with fancy villas built for rich Valencianos 100 years ago, there isn’t much to do here but lay out your beach towel along with everyone else and catch some rays.

Lost in wooded hills a few kilometres inland from Benicàssim is the tranquil, Carmelite monastery of the Desierto de las Palmas, which was established three centuries ago as a place of retreat and still hosts workshops and meditation weekends (http://www.desiertodelaspalmas.com). The surrounding hills are still scarred by forest fires which ravaged the area more than a decade ago, but the region has been designated a natural park – Parc Natural del Desierto de las Palmas – and is criss-crossed with popular and well-marked walking trails and picnic spots. There’s a park information office at La Bartola, Carretera del Desierto, Km 8, T 964 760 727, with useful leaflets and a small exhibition on the local flora and fauna.

Peníscola/Peñíscola

Take trains from Valencia to Benicarlo-Peníscola, then a shuttle bus (every 30 mins, summer only) or a taxi (E 8, about 10 km) into the old town. Frequent trains: express trains E 17, 2 hrs; regional trains E 7.20, 2 hrs. There are no direct bus services from Valencia.

Peníscola is best seen from a distance. A tight mass of whitewashed houses piled steeply on a rocky promontory and topped with a castle, it’s a spectacular and romantic sight. It looks like a movie set – you might recognize it from the film El Cid. Close up, the spell is quickly broken: the pretty, cobbled lanes are gorged with day-trippers and the whitewashed houses have been converted into an endless line of cheap cafés and souvenir shops. Still, as tourist towns go, Peníscola is as pretty as any on the Valencian coast, particularly at dusk. The narrow isthmus which reaches out to Peníscola is lined with thoughtless development, but the beaches are long and sandy (although jam-packed in high season). The town still has a small fishing fleet and the return of the brightly painted boats (around 1630) to the little fishing harbour is a beautiful sight.

Perched high above the tiled rooftops is the 14th-century Templar fortress which was later converted into a residence for Pedro de Luna (’Papa Luna’), Pope Benedict XIII, who tried to establish a Papal City here. The castle, known as Castell/Castillo de Papa Luna, is now a history and art museum, with frankly little to see, but fabulous views over the rooftops and out to sea. Get there early to enjoy it without the crowds – but note that opening times are erratic, so check in advance. T 964 480 021. Summer 0930-1430, 1630-2130; winter 0930-1300, 1515-1800. E 2.

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