Travelling From Spain to France
Travelling From Spain to France - Torrevieja Through Valencia and Barcelona
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Travelling From Spain to France -
Reporter Jill Attfield has family in France and regularly makes the journey by car from Torrevieja. Here she describes a possible route for the trip, which takes in some of the interesting sights on the way.
Our journey starts from Torrevieja and will take us to the Spanish/French border, a journey that many of you perhaps do quite often, whilst driving to the UK, but do you stop en route to see more of Spain, the country which we are all so eager to move to? Possibly not.
The slightly more scenic route from Alicante to Valencia, as compared to the A7 Autopista, toll motorway mainly follows the recently renamed Autovia 31. Before this the roads were made up of ‘N’ roads. If you would like to stop off at some interesting Spanish places on the way, then this may be the route for you.
The toll free route by passes such places as Elda, Novelda, Petrel, Monovar and Sax, with their charming castles on the way, which you may like to just view as you pass, or drop off and investigate their history.
Elda, whilst famous for it’s footwear industry, also has a castle, belonging to the ‘Counts of Coloma’, which was built in the 16th century. It’s parish church contains many beautiful items, including an altar dating back to 1592. Just a few kilometres away lies ‘Petrel’ which boasts a Moorish castle in whose subterranean chambers lies, or so the legend goes, a fabulous treasure. Novelda is close to the River Vinalopo and its ‘spring’, hence the name ‘Salinetes de Novelda’, where the spa-resort takes it origins. We covered Novelda and it’s area in depth in our issue number 20.
Monovar is the birthplace of the distinguished writer Jose Martinez Ruiz, nicknamed ‘Azorin’.
Sax, known in the Roman times as ‘Saxum’ has a beautiful reconstructed Castle and nearby is the ‘Renaissance’ style parish church, with it’s ‘Gothic’ features in the vaults, and a 16th century statute of the ‘Virgin de los Frutos’ over the Baroque high altar. These places are all within easy reach of the southern Costa Blanca and all worth a visit.
We leave motorway conditions for a while and travel upwards through the countryside, with its vineyards, cornfields and mountainous terrain for some 43 kilometres passing through the quaint village of ‘La Font de la Fiquera’. La Font de la Fiquera is set high in the mountains but as the road meanders through the village like a snake it drops quite substantially.
Back onto the motorway and we head to join the A7 toll road north of Valencia.
Taking ‘Salida’ number 35 off of the A7, you will find the large town of ‘Salou’on the Costa Dorada. Salou, whose Roman name was ‘Salauris’, throbs with holidaymakers from May to October each year. It is an ideal destination for families of all ages with its sandy beaches and gentle sea current. Salou whilst being a ‘modern’ holiday destination still has its share of the ‘old Spain’ about it. There are also numerous other attractions not forgetting the fabulous theme park, ‘Port Aventura’, or if you prefer the quieter life style then hop on a bus (or drive) south just a few kilometres to the charming fishing village of Cambrils. Here at Cambrils it is like being in a different world, with its art and craft market and with over nine kilometres of golden beaches. You can watch the daily catch of fish come in at its busy working port and perhaps enjoy the quality later at one of the many restaurants, which boast to be the best throughout Catalonia. Some of the prices in the more ‘up market’ restaurants are perhaps a little more steep than those on the Costa Blanca, but they do reflect the wonderful cuisine.
The city of Barcelona it’s self has so much culture and wonderful places to visit that a long stay here could be advised, to ensure that you visit it’s many museums, gardens and places of interest. Currently the amount of visitors to Barcelona’s fifty or so public and private museums each year is 7 million.
Our journey will end with one last visit before we meet the border separating Spain with France and that will be to the Salvador Dali Museum, in the small Catalan town of Figueras on the Costa Brava, centred in the mountains north west of Barcelona. The artist Salvador Dali, a Spaniard was born here in the village on 11 May 1904 and to this area he devoted his entire world. The ‘Ampurdan plain’ in which Figueras stands, plus the little fishing village of Cadaqués and nearby Port Lligat, where he built his home, are the settings for a great majority of his works. Dali’s paintings were varied and after his stay in the United States of America during the Second World War, he became famous worldwide and was an icon later to the ‘hippie’ generation. He was buried in the Dali Museum at Figueras after his death in 1989.
Article provided by kind permission of The Leader Newspaper (Written by Jill Attfield)
More articles in this series: 12 - 13 - 14 -15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
Reporter Jill Attfield has family in France and regularly makes the journey by car from Torrevieja. Here she describes a possible route for the trip, which takes in some of the interesting sights on the way.
Our journey starts from Torrevieja and will take us to the Spanish/French border, a journey that many of you perhaps do quite often, whilst driving to the UK, but do you stop en route to see more of Spain, the country which we are all so eager to move to? Possibly not.
The slightly more scenic route from Alicante to Valencia, as compared to the A7 Autopista, toll motorway mainly follows the recently renamed Autovia 31. Before this the roads were made up of ‘N’ roads. If you would like to stop off at some interesting Spanish places on the way, then this may be the route for you.
The toll free route by passes such places as Elda, Novelda, Petrel, Monovar and Sax, with their charming castles on the way, which you may like to just view as you pass, or drop off and investigate their history.
Elda, whilst famous for it’s footwear industry, also has a castle, belonging to the ‘Counts of Coloma’, which was built in the 16th century. It’s parish church contains many beautiful items, including an altar dating back to 1592. Just a few kilometres away lies ‘Petrel’ which boasts a Moorish castle in whose subterranean chambers lies, or so the legend goes, a fabulous treasure. Novelda is close to the River Vinalopo and its ‘spring’, hence the name ‘Salinetes de Novelda’, where the spa-resort takes it origins. We covered Novelda and it’s area in depth in our issue number 20.
Monovar is the birthplace of the distinguished writer Jose Martinez Ruiz, nicknamed ‘Azorin’.
Sax, known in the Roman times as ‘Saxum’ has a beautiful reconstructed Castle and nearby is the ‘Renaissance’ style parish church, with it’s ‘Gothic’ features in the vaults, and a 16th century statute of the ‘Virgin de los Frutos’ over the Baroque high altar. These places are all within easy reach of the southern Costa Blanca and all worth a visit.
We leave motorway conditions for a while and travel upwards through the countryside, with its vineyards, cornfields and mountainous terrain for some 43 kilometres passing through the quaint village of ‘La Font de la Fiquera’. La Font de la Fiquera is set high in the mountains but as the road meanders through the village like a snake it drops quite substantially.
Back onto the motorway and we head to join the A7 toll road north of Valencia.
Taking ‘Salida’ number 35 off of the A7, you will find the large town of ‘Salou’on the Costa Dorada. Salou, whose Roman name was ‘Salauris’, throbs with holidaymakers from May to October each year. It is an ideal destination for families of all ages with its sandy beaches and gentle sea current. Salou whilst being a ‘modern’ holiday destination still has its share of the ‘old Spain’ about it. There are also numerous other attractions not forgetting the fabulous theme park, ‘Port Aventura’, or if you prefer the quieter life style then hop on a bus (or drive) south just a few kilometres to the charming fishing village of Cambrils. Here at Cambrils it is like being in a different world, with its art and craft market and with over nine kilometres of golden beaches. You can watch the daily catch of fish come in at its busy working port and perhaps enjoy the quality later at one of the many restaurants, which boast to be the best throughout Catalonia. Some of the prices in the more ‘up market’ restaurants are perhaps a little more steep than those on the Costa Blanca, but they do reflect the wonderful cuisine.
The city of Barcelona it’s self has so much culture and wonderful places to visit that a long stay here could be advised, to ensure that you visit it’s many museums, gardens and places of interest. Currently the amount of visitors to Barcelona’s fifty or so public and private museums each year is 7 million.
Our journey will end with one last visit before we meet the border separating Spain with France and that will be to the Salvador Dali Museum, in the small Catalan town of Figueras on the Costa Brava, centred in the mountains north west of Barcelona. The artist Salvador Dali, a Spaniard was born here in the village on 11 May 1904 and to this area he devoted his entire world. The ‘Ampurdan plain’ in which Figueras stands, plus the little fishing village of Cadaqués and nearby Port Lligat, where he built his home, are the settings for a great majority of his works. Dali’s paintings were varied and after his stay in the United States of America during the Second World War, he became famous worldwide and was an icon later to the ‘hippie’ generation. He was buried in the Dali Museum at Figueras after his death in 1989.
Article provided by kind permission of The Leader Newspaper (Written by Jill Attfield)
More articles in this series: 12 - 13 - 14 -15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19
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