Moors and Christians at El Verger

“Moors and Christians” commemorate some of Spain’s most turbulent times between the 8th and 15th centuries with processions that take place at various times of the year and at many locations across the country. Some are small village processions like the one in Benicolet that we reported on recently and some are grand affairs in larger towns like the one we saw this week in El Verger, near Denia which is about 40 minutes away from us.





So we were treated to numerous marching village bands in-between groups of warriors representing the Moors and an equal number representing the Christians, all wearing recreations of their fierce battledress. I have to say that if some of these scary looking characters were running towards me in anger, (and that includes some of the women!) I, for one, would be running even faster in the opposite direction!!



The procession at El Verger is especially well known because it has a safari park nearby and some of their animals join in the spectacle.



Again the photos give just a taster…..

Picnic at Anna Gorge

We had the opportunity to explore somewhere new to us last week when we accompanied some friends to Anna Gorge near Xativa which is about 30 minutes drive from us.



Anna Gorge is a natural feature and has to be accessed via a long set of stone steps, but the climb down is rewarded by spectacular scenery, very refreshing ice cold water, a 50-60ft waterfall and the odd tunnel to clamber through.

Other than the stone step access this is not a man-made attraction and its location seems to be less well known than in tourist areas, making this a very pleasant picnic spot far away from the madding crowd…… except for a few locals that is!

"Our" Swimming Pool.....

.....is actually the Montichelvo village swimming pool. Open between June and September it is beautifully kept and provides a very refreshing location during our hottest months. It's less than 2 minutes walk away from Casa Blanca Rural and is rarely crowded.



Our guests just love it!

Mountain Biking

A regular activity at Casa Blanca Rural is an evening mountain bike ride. Bikes are available to hire locally at very reasonable charges and are delivered to, and collected from guests when no longer required (Link to bike hire company on our website).

The evening rides are usually guided and vary in length according to guest requirements, the most popular takes in a couple of neighbouring villages and varying degrees of tracks between them. The ride lasts between one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half hours, again depending on guest requirements and numbers of stops etc.

Mountain biking is a great way to see the area, the going is mainly on tarmac and dirt tracks so is not too difficult. Although if difficulty is required it can soon be found!!

Oh – and apart from the bike hire charges there are NO additional costs to the guided rides, we can’t say fairer than that can we?.......

Another visit to the old railway track

Mark, Steph, James and Sam were keen to explore the old track following the glowing reports they had heard. So we took them down to it earlier today in our 4x4. More pictures best describe this beautiful place.....







No matter how often we take guests on this excursion we never get bored with it. We always see something new, this time we watched an enormous catfish playing half in and half out of the water, we ate fresh figs straight from a tree and clambered across a spectacular weir.

Steph summed it all up...... "FANTASTIC!"

More Paella!

We don't only eat paella! But we had one of our in-house versions the other evening with Mark, Steph and family up on the top roof terrace.

Everyone enjoyed the mixed seafood and meat paella together with home made Sangria a good time was had by all.......

Moors and Christians

We attended the Moors and Christians processions in the neighbouring village of Benicolet this week. We have Mark and Steph, together with their sons James and Sam from Norfolk staying with us and thought it would be a good opportunity to see some of the local celebrations.

The amazing thing about this part of Spain, which we constantly refer to as “Real Spain” is that these village events and many others like them are not set up for tourists to see – these are just what go on as part of remembering the past and tradition, this is real life in real Spain – you have to experience it to feel the “el ambiente”, the atmosphere, for yourself. In the meantime some photos should give a taster…..

Bull Run

One of the Spanish traditional events is to run bulls through village streets with willing human participants running in front (as fast as possible!) to give the bulls something to chase….








We sat safely on the sidelines to watch the madness take place! :-)