All Saints in Morella

Here’s a report of our trip to Morella and surrounding lands: Portell d’Infern in Fredes, Parrizal de Beceite (Teruel) and of course the town and castle of Morella.

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Portell d’Infern

The day started with a long drive and a change of temperature – from warm Valencia to cool and cloudy lands of Castellón interior. A quick change of clothing and some hot beverages helped us to get going and start the hike.

This route is somewhat unusual, because you start it going down insted of up, going from about 1200m above sea level in Fredes to 900m, where the Portell is. This is also means that great views are there right away.

Half way down there is an optional rock to climb – an great place for photos, views and much more. If you feel like your acting skills are sufficicent, you can also pretend to be one of the eagles or vultures that are flying around.

Interestingly enough – the lower you go, the better the views are, but as I mentioned above, the route is unusual, so unexpected is to be expected on this kind of hike.

A detour from the official route takes you to even more spectacular places. Some scrambling, bushwacking and other sorts of fun ways to spend time in the mountains are required though.

The trail took us back to Fredes right before the sunset, with great light from the sun being just above the horizon (or the mountains in this case). All the high voltage electric fences have been avoided, which is nice.

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Parrizal de Beceite

Even though our team was very efficient and left the house early, we found ourselves waiting in a queue of cars at 9:30 and no spots left at the parking closest to the route start, which meant additional 2km of exciting walking.
The route itself is quite easy, which attracts a lot of visitors; with several wooden passages built to facilitate walking/avoid getting wet. Just as you start wondering, if you are getting closer to the end of the route – an impressive canyon opens up in front of you.

The way back is the same one that was used to get here, although this time you are looking at it from the other side, unless you’re walking it backwards of course.

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The Dinner

Thanks to Ramon’s cooking skills, Jose Miguel’s ingenuity and great teamwork we were able to have a nice and cozy dinner in the house.

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Morella and the Castle

The walk around Morella started with a big search for Flaons, continued by a visit to the castle. We were blown away by the magnificence of the castle and various lookout points with views of Morella and surrounding hills.

Lining up for geometrically aligned photos is the groups’ strong skill.

Morella also has the Garden of Poets, with variety of flowers and portraits of important poets.

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