Is this Tuscany?

On a somewhat dreary Sunday we decided to go for a drive outside the city, now that we’re once again allowed to. This time we headed south and inland, to the mountain country. What I didn’t expect is to arrive in Tuscany. You knew they had to have one, didn’t you? I swear, this has got to be the best place to be when travel abroad is not allowed: all the famous, mostly Italian, destinations are just around the corner (or mountain) in the beautiful Comunidad Valenciana.

I have very little proof that it actually looked like Tuscany; the rain was incessant and my phone was much more interested in focussing on the droplets on the side window than the cascading terraces of grapevines, roads lined with cypresses, and grand stone farm estates and houses dotting the hills. But honestly, I have seen enough pictures and films about that lovely area of Italy to believe why here, too, one could be under the Tuscan sun … if the sun had chosen to grace us with its warm rays, that is.

Our first stop was a place called La Bastida de les Alcusses, an ancient Iberian site with an interesting and mysterious history, located close to the town of Moixent. It is an archeological site of a settlement that dates back to IV century BCE. That in itself isn’t terribly unusual since Spain has a very long history, of course, but what is different is its abrupt abandonment and excellent preservation. Some even call it “new Pompeii” (I know, right?). Unfortunately, we got there a little late. Well, that’s not exactly true: we got there an hour before closing time only to find out that when closing time is 2pm, nobody can enter the area an hour earlier because … Spain. They have a very strange concept of what closing time actually means. All we got to see is a wall of an Iberian house and a statue that is a large replica of the Guerrero de Mogente, a bronze votive discovered in 1931. At least the surrounding trees made for some cool photos.

Disappointed, we had no choice but to find our way back down to the valley and then to the town on the other side of another mountain where we were to lunch. All the way up to this area (it’s about a two hour drive) we had been regaled by Sagrario’s tale of a cruise and a Newlyweds-style game where she met her good friend Bautiste. We thought she was telling us all this to pass the time but, as it turns out, we were to dine with said Bautiste and that sounded like a hoot, judging by the tale of how the two of them won a cruise game for the recently-wed when they had, literally, just met. The town where we were meeting him boasts a fine eatery (don’t they all?) which is why that was our destination; Bautiste lives on the other other side of some mountain — there are a lot of mountains here, did I mention that?. Fontanars dels Alforis didn’t look like much, to be honest, and yet there was a Michelin-star restaurant in it. It’s not where were eating (the ⭐️ place was closed) — but we were about to try the best arroz al forno in the region. We were not disappointed. Everything we ate and drank was amazing, the arroz was, in fact, the best I’ve ever had, and we walked out of there totally stuffed (pictures below). Bautiste turned out to be a funny, kind, and generous man, who not only brought us some freshly-baked puffed desserts (he owns a pasteleria, or a pastry shop), he also paid for our whole meal.

I may have something like this before, but I feel very lucky to have met Sagrario and, through her, I keep meeting other wonderful Spanish (and other) people who are making this adventure so good.