Segorbe

Because hiking all over Geldo wasn’t tiring enough, we now decided to take on a castle on top of a hill, of course. Segorbe is the largest town in the comarca of Alto Palancia, a district deep in the mountains of the Iberian range. While archeological evidence of human presence dates back to 1500 BCE, recorded history of the town begins in the VIII century and, due to its strategic location, the usual suspects have made themselves at home here over the years: Iberians, Romans, Visigoths, and of course the Arabs until they got kicked out. After that, the Castillo de la Estrella and the town it protected became a pawn in the various power struggles of the Spanish kingdoms. In the XVI century, the duke in power decided to build himself a new palace, however, and the castle lost its status and fell into disrepair.

We tried to get as close as possible with the car so we wouldn’t have to climb the whole hill the castle sits on, but, once again, that was just a pipe dream. As we approached it from the road, there were some stairs leading up, and since the main entrance seemed very far away, these seemed as the quicker way to get up to the top. My knees were still warmed up from the Geldo walk so I figured I would not suffer too much, especially if I took it slowly. As we reached what we thought was the top, we asked some youths hanging out there if the stairs continued to an entrance. They said “yes”. I guess the question should have been “where is the damn entrance” because the stairs, if fact, did not lead to it and all we got out of the extra exercise were some awesome views. The entrance was in the other direction and you should have seen the looks-that-could-kill I sent in the boys’ direction on my way back. Fortunately the entrance was free (which, unlike at the museums, is unusual) but that’s because there isn’t all that much to see (or for the government to maintain). I guess over four centuries of abandonment isn’t worth much. What I did like, however, was the large park at the top where you can sit on a bench and look over the whole valley. It looks like the residents come here quite often to enjoy the views and have picnics, so the castle isn’t a waste after all.

The path back to the car was much easier than the stairs though only in terms of there not being actual stairs. In all my years I have never had to walk down a street that was so steep that the town needed to put railings alongside the buildings and both I and the other mobility-impaired folks who, I am embarrassed to say, were at least 20 years older than me, made our way very gingerly down. In my defence, my knees are technically 20 years older than the rest of me, despite all the new hardware. I just wonder how vehicles make it up and down that street; the mechanics in this town must do great business.

We were getting hungry after all this climbing so the next stop was going to be one of the best restaurants in this part of the region. More on that in the next post.