July 24: Pursuing a Peak in Peniscola

Beth and I so enjoyed the sunset yesterday, we set the alarm to watch it again today!

Same yummy breakfast buffet with same amazing fresh-squeezed OJ. Checked out of our hotel rooms, but we kept our passes to go back to the waterpark again. While kids played in the water, Beth and I tried to get our heads around more details and logistics for the last third of our trip. Still working it out.

Changed into dry clothes and headed toward central “old” Peniscola, with the focus being to explore the castle area there. Found parking this time - yay! But it was HOT. Decided to buy some cold water and power through.

Such a neat mix of old and new in this spot! So many quaint little streets, barely wide enough for a moped let alone a car. Little cafes and trinket shops around most corners, as you make your way up toward the castle. The castle itself was fascinating! We almost didn’t go in due to cranky hot sweaty perspectives, but some positive peer pressure won out.

Some complicated history here, involving different people groups and leaders. The initial settlers were the Muslims, otherwise referred to as the Moors, dating back at last a thousand years ago. Then they were evicted by Christians, particularly a Catholic Church- sanctioned military group called the Knights Templar around the 12th century. (These knights have been the subject of much mythology - perhaps one of the most recent pop culture examples was in Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code”). The Knights Templar built Peniscola castle between 1294 and 1307. The knights’ order was dissolved by an edict from Pope Clement in 1312, making Peniscola Castle one of the last fortresses of this medieval group.

In the early 1400s, this castle became the home of someone nicknamed el Papa Luna, a disputed pope of the Catholic Church (Wikipedia calls him an “anti-pope”) during a season of the church called the Western Schism - when there was disagreement about the most legitimate seat of church leadership. Apparently, he fiercely defended his claim to being the legitimate pope until his death, here in Peniscola.

This site apparently also saw some action during the Spanish civil war during the 1800s. But now it has been repurposed as a tourist haven.

After our peak experience at the castle, we needed some refreshments. We found a restaurant we a gorgeous sea view, and had some favourites like paella for Beth & Reid, chicken & fries & salad for Thane, and Nutella crepes and fries for Luke & Faith; topped it offf with a few scoops of ice cream, eaten quickly to race with the melting heat.

We then drove for over 2 hours to our next AirBnB flat in metro Barcelona. Major change in the landscape was a plethora of tall trees covering the rolling hills; otherwise a pretty unremarkable drive. Had some trouble with figuring out how to get places without having to pay so much in tolls… and trouble finding overnight parking close to the apartment. Central Barcelona, like central London or Paris, really is better explored and lived by foot and public transit.

Beth’s watch recorded that in the past 7 days, she has walked 78,207 steps (over 52 km), 141 flights of stairs, and over 5 hours of exercise time! The watch doesn’t record how many litres of sweat were expressed this week, though. I bet it’s quite a few.