Alcala Del Jucar is an interesting town that I have visited. It was the middle of February, I had been to visit another village and was passing Alcala mid afternoon whilst on my way back home.
The village is basically built into the side of a mountain, on the approach road to Alcala, I thought that the view was spectacular with all the whitewashed houses rising skywards.
It is known that in the twelfth century a Muslim fortress was built on the banks of the river by the Arabs to form a defensive line to contain the increasing pressure from the Christian kings.
Initially, this was a village called Alcalá Jorquera, until April 18 1364, Pedro I signed a document in Grao Valencia, giving the Alcalá del Jucar village segregation from Jorquera. First of all I parked my car in a large free car park near to a basin of the river. There is not much open during the week at this time of the year. Some attractions are only open at the weekend, with much more being open all week long during the holiday seasons.At the basin, there was sign indicating a boat ride during the summer months.I crossed over the Roman Bridge and commenced a very steep walk up and up towards the Muslim Castle.The first road that I came to was a series of gradual steps which initially take you up to the main Parish Church.This is an impressive building which appears to have a history from the 15th to the 18th century. It has a very tall triangular shaped dome which towers over the village.On this road of steps I was a little surprised to see cars parked outside various houses and buildings. What surprised me even more was the fact that I saw a person get into a car and drive quite normally along this road, down the steps. (Something that you may normally see in an adventure film!). There is no way that I would have driven my car here!Onwards and upwards. You just cannot drive any further; all the roads are mere alleyways. There are just lines after line of houses that zig zag there way up the mountainside. I walked along one alleyway and then I had to go up a small passage onto another alleyway. After about a half hour of zigzagging upwards, I came to the entrance of the Castle. At this time of day I knew it would be closed, but the views from here are fantastic. You can absolutely everything in the village from here.You are looking down across rooftops; you are looking down at the large Church. I could see my car in the car park, it looked like a dot! You can see the strangely shaped Plaza de Toros. It was quite pleasant standing here looking down on the village and having a rest for 15 minutes or so to catch my breath. I am a fit person, but the alleyways and passages are quite steep.On the way down again, I saw a handful of signs advertising caves, this is a popular attraction for visiting caves, one in particular that I saw was called Cueva del Diablo (Devils Cave). There were a few different cave names being advertised at various intervals. At the bottom again, near The Roman Bridge, there is a tourist information office, the sign on the door advertising that it only opens at the weekend during Winter time and open at the usual Spanish times during the holiday season.Having a wander around this part of the town, I saw a lot of restaurants, café’s and bars, along with quite a reasonable number of hotels, I should imagine that in the holiday season that Alcala Del Jucar is a very busy tourist village. I would like to see the Castle properly and possibly visit one of the Caves; this is a village that I will definitely visit again for a full day trip. From my area of Pinoso, this was a very easy and enjoyable drive of just a little under 2 hours. I would recommend a visit to any keen day trippers, but choose a suitable time to go.
You can view some of our photo’s on our picassa album.
