{"id":10989,"date":"2021-08-03T23:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T21:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/luminaris.com\/wp\/?p=10960"},"modified":"2024-08-13T16:59:05","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:59:05","slug":"sagunto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luminaris.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/03\/sagunto\/","title":{"rendered":"Sagunto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Valencia’s history goes back a ways, but just 30 km to the north, there is another city some 300 years older, its roots dating back to the V century BCE. Sagunto (or Sagunt<\/em> in Valenci\u00e1) used to be the major administrative and trading stop on the east coast of Iberia. When Hannibal crossed the Rubicon, he set his sights on Saguntum first, and set siege of it in 219 BC triggering the Second Punic War between the Carthaginians and the Romans, one of the most important wars of antiquity. So that’s where we, Sagrario, L. (a Finnish girl staying with us), and I went off to for a mid-week excursion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walls of the Castell de Sagunt<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Getting to Sagunto is easy, finding parking in the old town, however, not so much. Sagrario did manage to wedge the car into an impossible spot, as she usually does, and we headed up hill to the castle. There isn’t much left of it, unfortunately, as over 2000 years of wars and conquests have taken their toll, and the walls that remain are not easily visited, though visible from the city and the surrounding areas. What is way more interesting are the remnants of the Roman amphitheatre, originally built to seat 8,000 spectators, parts of which have been restored in recent years, and where there are still spectacles performed, and we just happened to come upon rehearsals for something. It appeared to be a circus or acrobatics show of some sort, the weirdest part of which was a fellow who was suspended from a great height by his head (!) and doing a bit of a sky dance. Young people these days \ud83d\ude43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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