Tuesday 26th December 2023
For Boxing Day, we chose to do a little tour of some of the more mountainous parts of the locality, again making use of the hire car.
Tàrbena
Tàrbena was the first stop on our route, but there were several interesting views on the way there:
We were not sure what crop all the netting was protecting, but there was a lot of it.
A small pretty village of only 627 residents, Tàrbena is at an altitude of 560m above sea level (1840ft). It has a church (sadly closed when we visited), a village square with cafe, and a car park with space for 4 motorhomes which provided free facilities, including electricity.
Coll de Rates
A short distance further on, is the Coll de Rates, a well known viewpoint which affords vistas towards the sea to the south:
…and views over high wooded hills to the north.
We could have walked on further up this path, which comes to a dead-end, but the views were spectacular enough from where we were.
Benissa
We called at the small town of Benissa on our way back to Calpe and had a coffee. It is a historic place dating from early medieval times, with a Franciscan seminary and a neo gothic cathedral (sadly both closed on Boxing Day). It had a lovely Christmas tree in the square…
…and orange trees growing in the streets:
"See-u-Later" 