We take a look at Requena. The town is located
68 kilometers from Valencia. It was an important strategic enclave during the Middle Ages. The old town has been declared a protected monument.
From Requena Castle.
Everywhere in the old town, we see artists devotedly painting pictures with a wide variety of motifs on their canvases.
We visit the “Cuevas de la Villa” (caves of the village),
There is a group of 22 caves that served as cellars and belonged to private houses or public buildings. They were dug during the Muslim period by drilling into the limestone tuff and extracting clay from the subsoil. From the 18th century onwards, they were abandoned and filled in when the buildings to which they belonged were demolished. They were located in today’s Plaza de la Villa. They have an area of around 1,200 m² and a temperature of between 15 and 16 °C.
They were discovered in the 1970s, cleared of rubble and connected by tunnels.
These underground caves can be found under today’s Plaza de la Villa. Incredible!
Centuries ago, the inhabitants of Requena discovered a natural storehouse for a variety of foods in the silence and darkness of these caves with their low temperature and constant humidity all year round. Wheat and other cereals were stored there. You can recognize the characteristic bottle or amphora shape with the narrow opening through which the granules were poured. Once the room was closed, a fire inside consumed all the oxygen, creating a vacuum. The opening was sealed to keep the contents intact.
Baro is known in recent times for several important purposes, including the storage and preservation of blood gases. The cave cellar is equipped with other rooms or complementary elements for winemaking, such as wine cellars and trucs used for treading wine.
There is a room where there is a “jaraíz”, a kind of raft with brick walls and a slightly sloping floor. In the upper part, the grapes were piled up and patiently crushed, allowing the must to accumulate in the lower part. This must, extracted by the tireless efforts of the grape pickers shod with esparto grass, fell into the small lower basin, the “trulleta”, from where it was poured into jugs, where it fermented without scraping or skinning, producing the ancient wine known as “claret” due to its dark color.
Some current elements of the villa still preserve the palaza, which was used for the domestic water supply. This cave shows that the house, or what belonged to it, was equipped with this function and that water could also be drawn from the cellar cave.
We delved into the depths of this winding labyrinth. Into the caves of the old town hall, for example, which dominated the Plaza de la Villa from 1685 until the mid-19th century, when it was demolished. This was once the site of Requena’s granary, a communal warehouse where grain was stored in times of plenty to provide farmers with seed and the needy with bread in times of poor harvests and famine.
There are still entrances, hatches and doors everywhere today. It would be interesting to see where these still lead.
Next to the El Salvador church, one of the three parishes in the old town, these hollows were used as an ossuary centuries ago. This particular underground ossuary was used until the early 19th century. The permanent accumulation of bones came to an end with the construction of the first municipal cemetery in Leyas, the city center.
These caves, covering an area of around 1200 m², are located in the subsoil of today’s Plaza de la Villa.
Santa María is a Roman Catholic church in the Gothic Baroque style. Its construction lasted from the end of the 15th century until the 18th century. The Gothic main portal is decorated with angels, floral motifs and a scene of the Annunciation in the tympanum.
The church is also used for concerts.
It was declared a national monument in 1931.
We have now arrived in the Castilla la Mancha region. We were presented with a completely different landscape. Wide views with a lot of barren landscape. Empty, dried-up fields. Then lots of agriculture again. Fields of cabbage, corn, a few olives and almond trees. Lots of straw bales are produced here. As the landscape became more hilly again, the vegetation also became greener and more beautiful.
Our pitch for the night in Robledo was an official pitch for 23 vehicles. But we were all alone there. Only in the evening and the next morning did people come by with their dogs.
It was a really nice and very quiet place.
Castilla La Mancha bids farewell to its most beautiful side.
Even with nice fuel prices.
We arrived in Andalusia on Tuesday.
For us, this is one of the most beautiful regions in Spain.
Originally we wanted to drive along the coast to Malaga, but then decided to head inland. If nothing else comes up and we drive as comfortably as we have over the last few days, we will arrive at our winter quarters at the weekend.
Our first night in Andalusia was in the middle of Linares.
A larger town with good shopping facilities.
At least on foot, as some of the streets are very narrow and parking spaces are rare.
The next stop is in Écija.
Écija is located between the two Andalusian cities of Córdoba and Seville in the province of Seville. The town has two nicknames. One is “La sartén de Andalucía” (the frying pan of Andalusia), as it is unbearably hot in summer. Even now in October it is almost 30°. And secondly, “City of Towers”. There are eleven church towers here.
As of 2024, it has 39500 inhabitants.
The old town is more of a maze for us. There are so many small, winding alleyways that it’s easy to lose track.
Écija is the city of towers. But why are there so many churches and palaces?
It is said that the number of churches in Écija is the result of its historical development, its architecture and especially the reconstruction phase after the devastating earthquake of 1755, which reshaped the city and left behind many impressive buildings.
Market hall
This small tapas bar was full of great people behind and in front of the bar. Even without being able to communicate well with each other, we had nice conversations. Somehow it always works!
We actually wanted to arrive at our winter quarters on Saturday. On the route we always take to Portugal, there is a parking space next to a Mercadona (our favorite Spanish store) in La Palma del Condado, which we can drive straight to with our WENNE. This is practical, as there aren’t many of these supermarkets without height restrictions and parking facilities for us nearby. This makes it ideal for getting supplies again.
We discovered something else while shopping. We decided to have a snack after all. Would you like to try something like this? Or have you eaten something like this before? Let us know in the comments! We definitely don’t fancy something like this, but at least all the parts of the slaughtered animal are used.
We’ve been to the pitch next door a few times, but it’s not really great anymore.
There was a lot of garbage and broken glass lying around this time. We didn’t have to think long and decided to head for the next planned pitch in Portugal, Estoi. Shortly before we arrived there, Alex asked if we should just drive the 2 hours to Figueira? No sooner said than done! We arrived at the camper park at around half past five Portuguese time. The groundsman recognized us immediately and he and his wife were delighted to see us again. After a warm welcome, he explained to us that pitch number 2, which we had last year and which is right opposite him and our friends (they now live there), would be occupied for another 8 days and that we would be given another pitch, close to him of course, and could move as soon as pitch number 2 became available. We were a bit surprised about this, because we could take any other pitch from our side where we could pitch our awning, stand up straight and have sun. But the groundsman was full of joy and we didn’t want to take it away from him.
Shortly before we left the site in the spring, we made friends with Ms. A. She had also arrived back here in the meantime and was happy to see us again.
She came by later with home-baked bread and homemade avocado cream. We spent a lovely evening together and got to know each other better.
As we were filling up our water tank on arrival, Mr. A from Swabia, where we also come from, came by to greet us. He had also just arrived a few days ago.
Our dear and now really good friends, who have now made themselves at home on the site, enjoyed a few weeks in the north of Portugal and arrived here just under an hour after us. We were delighted to see them again and will certainly have a lot to talk about over the next few weeks. We’re looking forward to spending time together and having fun playing games with them.
The next morning we met Louis, the gentleman from reception, who was just as happy to see us again as the others.
It was nice to go for a walk in the area again.
The beach may seem empty to you, but for us it is really full. The last few years when we were here, it was always very lonely and it was not uncommon to have the beach all to ourselves.
Let’s see how it turns out in the coming weeks and months.
Doing the laundry was also urgently needed. And I’m delighted with the new 10 kg washing machine. There are three washing machines and a dryer in total, but the older 8 kg machines really leave a lot to be desired. So I’m all the happier about the new 10 kg machine 😉
Ben, our friends’ cat, also finds my new lambskin really cozy.
Arriving here in Figueira is a bit like “coming home”. Not everything is great here in this place. There are a few things that aren’t particularly nice, but where exactly is the perfect place? Nevertheless, we feel incredibly comfortable here, which is not least due to the community. The people who have been living on the site for a few years now and those who come here every year over the winter and also the new friends you make, that’s what makes this place here in the Algarve in Figueira/Budens so special. And why we keep coming back here.
Until next year in March or April, we will now enjoy our time here with our friends, the sun, the sea and the serenity. In December, we will make a short visit to our children and family and perhaps receive a visit from Germany over Christmas. We are excited to see what our time here will bring us and are looking forward to every new day.