dogfriendly – Page 2 – A Dog's Travel Adventures in Spain (and other places too!)

In the footsteps of El cid

After a few days of R and R, Dad said we could go and find El Cid’s castle today. That sounds exciting especially since it involves a trip in the car! Dad said the castle is in a town called Morella, about an hour from here,up in the mountains. Castles I like but who is this El Cid guy? Must be a big cheese to have a castle!

So it turns out that El Cid is actually a guy called Diego Rodriguez and is a pretty bug deal here in Spain. He was a famous medieval knight back in around 1050. Apparently he fought for both the Christians and the Moors and was known as El Cid – meaning the Lord in Spanish – because he was so fierce. He was born in Burgos which is a town in the North of Spain and Morella is on the ancient road linking it with the coast at Vinaros. The road was twisty and dangerous and would have taken weeks to travel. Luckily we are soon whizzing up the new expressway over the mountain passes and then down into the valleys. Soon the town comes into view!

Dad says there has been people living here since prehistoric times and there was a castle high up on the hill from the 8th century. El Cid rebuilt it and you can still see it standing grandly towering over the town below. From the main road I can see the old medieval houses hiding behind the huge fortifications with the castle above. Soon we pull into the car park – no donkeys for us unlike El Cid and we walk towards the gatehouse that protects the old town. It has two huge stone towers that housed the gate and as I look up they seem to go up forever!

We pass through and come into a pretty little square. Hooray! The first thing I see is a shop selling my favourite food – cheese! All traditionally made and my nose goes into overdrive with the yummy smell. Dad says I can’t go in! Morella is famous for it’s traditional cheese industry as well as handmade blankets and honey. The old streets are lined with shops selling all of them.

We walk down the main street which is now car free – luckily for me! It’s cobbled and the stones hurt my feet. We are looking for cafe for some lunch. I’m not that impressed. I want to have a rest but most of the places are full! We find one that has tables but doesn’t want me to sit there so we go elsewhere – the cheek of it! Another waitress is more interested in her phone but we do finally find a place for a yummy waffle and a coffee. Dad shares a bit of his waffle with me. How lucky am I!

After lunch, we follow the winding streets. No need for a map and no worries if we get lost. The road passes up into the old square in front of the church. I can see the castle hiding behind. The church has been here since the 13th century and I can see the statues have been worn away with the bad weather over the years. In summer it can be up to 40C here but in the winter the hilltop setting goes as low as -10C! I sit with Dad and wonder how many dogs have also sat in that square over the years.

The sun is starting to disappear now – well it is the middle of October, so we start our walk back to the car. There are hundreds of steps – going up and down – and the road seems to go on forever! I’ve only got little legs so I have to walk double the distance. I wonder how El Cid would have managed getting up and down to his castle in all that armour.

As we set off back down the road towards the coast, the car rocks me to sleep. I start to dream about all the battles El Cid had. Good knight!

Random ramblings and dodging the rain!

The last few days have been a bit of a mixed bag, but then it is the middle of October so what do you expect? Hot and sunny with lots of people still on the beach but then thunder and rain. Lots of rain! So we’ve been having a bit of a lazy time of things.

Saturday started well enough with lots of sun again but soon the storm clouds were gathering. Instead of the beach we decided to have a look in the countryside (or campo as us multilingual canines like to call it). The journey took us up towards the mountains and we found a big group of old olive trees. Old really isn’t the right word to describe them – ancient, antique, vintage – might be better as they are supposed to be over 1000 years old and are planted right next to a Roman road. Dad said they were out of bounds for a pee so I was a bit disappointed! How many dogs have peed up them over the years? That’s something to think about!

On Monday we decided to visit the old town again. Nothing special planned just a little walk and a coffee. Although it’s cobbly and a bit tough on my paws I like watching the fish jumping in the pools below the castle and seeing the tourists struggling up the hill from my viewpoint under a nice cafe table. What we didn’t know was it was market day and with the weather cooler than before the whole world decided to see what was on offer. The result was nowhere, and I do mean nowhere to park! Maybe next week will be quieter and we’ll get a chance to see what tat is on offer.

So instead of a relaxing morning, we decided to take a drive along the old coast road. The trip into the Sierra de la Irta was more than a bit bumpy and although I say drive it was more like a rollercoaster over the dirt tracks and rocks. We finally reached the car park overlooking the old town in the distance with rocks going down to the sea. It was a great chance to explore some of the rock pools that the storms had left and, even though my stomach wasn’t so keen, I really enjoyed poking around to see what I could find.

Today is hot and sunny again and is a national holiday here in Spain. It is the National Day of Spain and celebrates the history of the Kingdom of Spain and the colonies, especially in Latin America. It’s also one of the last national holidays of the year and we have already noticed lots of people closing up their holiday apartments for the winter. The seafront is very busy today and so many people scare me. It doesn’t help that Dad found a huge dragon next to the sea! I’m not that keen. Maybe next week will be quieter.

Beach Life

With Spain being a peninsula, most of it is surrounded by the sea. Now I’m not a water dog – I’ve only got short legs so even a little wave scares me and I’m not to keen on the salt because it gets in my fur and is really sticky – but I do like the beach. It’s full of interesting smells and things to snuffle around in so when Dad says beachtime, I’m happy.

Like I said there are miles of coast to explore and in fact the Mediterranean side has 1670km on it’s own – so I’m more than happy! It runs all the way from the French boarder in the north to Portugal in the south so hundreds of beaches to explore! Right? No wrong!

The problem with Spanish beaches is that me and my furry friends are not allowed on many of them. Some allow us in the winter but who wants to go swimming then? All summer when it’s hot and sunny, we are not allowed anywhere near.

The problem is that beaches are considered a bit of a cash cow by local towns. If you have a nice sandy beach then tourists will come. If you let dogs visit too, who wants to sit in a pile of do do? Now I can undertand that but it’s not our fault if a lazy human can’t clean up what we all do naturally and that’s given us a bad name. Let me says there are lots of humans who do the right thing and it’s the few that give everyone a bad name – ain’t that always the case!

However it’s not all bad news because finally local towns are realising that we have poochie pounds to spend too and if we are happy, then so are our humans and that means more money! Some places are more dog friendly than others and that just depends on the district. Luckily, here near Peniscola, there are lots of beaches especially for us where we can spend a fun day with our humans and meet other doggy friends. We have already discovered a great beach in the next town, Benicarlo, just a few minutes away. It has a lovely sandy beach and water to drink and showers to get rid of that nasty salt. I loved it there and even though it is October, there are still lots of people sunbathing with their furry friends.

The next town, a bit further away, Vinaros has three dog beaches! How lucky are they!

However, watch out for Alcanar! What a disappointment that was! A lovely promenade with big sandy beaches but doggy friends are not allowed! Anywhere! Too fancy for their own good if you ask me! And they had better watch out because dog friendly tourism is the next big thing. Why should we be left at home when everyone else is having fun!