On Wednesday 23rd February 2022 we set off at 9.40 from Javea heading to Moya, in the province of Cuenca and north-west of Valencia
Firstly, we left Angel for his little holiday with Val & Geoff-
Stopped for coffee on the way off the Motorway at Olleria at 11.20. Not a good choice as it was an industrial town. Just spent 15 minutes and then Tony took over the driving
Got to Cofrentes at 1.15 (see also town brochure in the file) being 195 kms from home. It is a lovely town with two rivers running around it – the Jucar and the Cabriel. Wanted to take a boat trip but it was not possible in February, but see the film on the website. Walked around the town and stopped for small lunch (€17) below the castle with spectacular views
Took the road from Cofrentes to Los Perones over the Sierras climbing all the time. Looking back were beautiful views over vineyards and flowering almond groves. The almonds, vineyards and fields of green crops just beginning to grow were a constant reminder of the agricultural importance of this area during our holiday.
On to Requena and Utiel and then we decided to take the shortest route to Tierras de Moya our hotel for 3 nights. Mileage from Confrentes to the hotel was 100 kms exactly
Arrived at the hotel (see brochure) at 16.30 situated in the tiny village and not a person in sight! Had to ring the doorbell, and a lovely lady, Sonya, let us in and gave us a guided tour of the hotel. Beautiful 18th-century building restored to its former splendour. Good sized bedroom and bathroom and outside gardens and pool (but not used by us in February).
We were shown the bar where we were told to help ourselves and just mark the slip of paper (Sonya supplied ice & lemon when required). This was a good place for our evening drink and a spot to play cards etc. We were the only people staying in the hotel but someone else expected tomorrow. Decided to have dinner at the hotel which was very pleasant with wine and the price was €42.90
Total mileage for the day 295 kms
Thursday
After breakfast in the hotel, we left at 10.00 to explore the medieval ruined city of Moya. We walked to the top of the hill at 1,155m of altitude.
This huge site dominates a wide territory of the provinces of Cuenca, Teruel and Valencia
In its heyday, it was the head of the Marquesado de Moya, which comprised 36 towns in the province of Cuenca where 1,200 people lived here. It had a double wall and 7 gates, its castle, 7 churches (one of which still stands and celebrates worship), two convents, a hospital, a town hall, the main square etc.
Now as you can see from our photos it is mostly in ruins but some buildings are still intact and maintained. Below are just a few of the walls and ruins as we only walked a small part of the whole hillside
A better impression of the site can be found in this video
Why do we bother to take photos when this is available?
We then drove through the small village of Moya (the live town) and later stopped for petrol and coffee at Salvacente at 12.00, being now120kms from the hotel.
We decided to return via Boniches which proved to be not exactly a thriving busy little town and bought snacks (very hard to find any shops let alone a supermarket).
All the villages we passed through had seen better days and many ruins could be seen. Both felt tired so returned to the hotel at 13.30 for a siesta!
At 16.30 travelled to Garaballa (see info sheet) and Alaquilla and then back through Talayuelas and Landete to the hotel. Wondered around Landete – which didn’t take long but we did stumble upon this (Press photo to see better)
Toni the ladies hairdresser in Landete
Back to the hotel at 18.30 for the usual evening drinks. The driving between places of interest took us longer than expected Unfortunately, not good for my back.
We had another hotel meal this time 3 courses (not 2) €59.40 with the wine of course.
Total mileage for the day was 149 kms
Friday
Woke up to a miserable cloudy and wet day. Tony has been having problems sleeping and we both decided we did not feel like driving around the area anymore and we would return home and cancel the last night.
The hotel cost was €416.10 (inc extra night not taken)
Left at 9.30 and decided to let “Bella” our GPS take over for the quickest route home via Valencia. Arrived home 13.45 Mileage for the trip home was 238 km
The total mileage for the whole trip was 682 kms
There is still a large area to visit – see Brochure Plano Turistico Cuenca in the file. It is all probably similar to the small villages we saw and as we had already been to Cuenca and Albarracin this short trip gave us the flavour of this large area of Spain.