We were in Córdoba, and wanted to get to Valencia, so we did another search for a place to stay a night, preferably with something of interest to see. I had read an article about the 12 must-see castles in Spain, and guess what was just a little way off our route?!? Yes, Belmonte Castle! So, we did it!
Three and a half hours of driving brought us to Belmonte, a medieval fortress town of 2300 people in Cuenca, Spain.
Our first stop was to check out the old stone windmills - they came with a view!
 |
| Rick, tilting at windmills |
Then we spent some time driving around, looking for "The Mirador" (the official viewpoint of the castle). Hah! What we got was a very dirty car! And this, which was OK, but not exactly what we wanted...
At 4, it was time to check in at our hotel. It turns out, a Casa Rural isn't necessarily like a hotel - ours didn't have a front desk, and in fact, no one was there! We tried the doorbell a few times, wandered around the nearby park, and finally went to a neighboring retiree's club to ask for help - we certainly got it! Someone there knew the owner, and gave us the phone number 🤪 (nope, our reservation confirmation didn't have that (it also didn't say anything about how to check in, which turned out to be "call me" 😒). Eh, minor setbacks...
A few minutes after calling, our host arrived, and showed us around; he gave us a nice map of the town, and drew a tour for us! So, away we went!
 |
| Plaza de Pilar and a Convent |
Here's the Colegiatta de San Bartolomé, a cathedral
 |
| Castle entrance |
 |
| Interior courtyard |
 |
| Armory |
 |
| Bedroom with Mudéjar style ceiling |
 |
| The toilets! Look out below! |
After seeing the living quarters on the first few floors, I headed up to the turrets! Here are some views from the top!
~~~
See more photos, 3D views, and a bit of info here and here.
And of course, there are a lot more photos in the Belmonte Spain 2023 album 🙂.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment