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The twin beaches of Peniscola, as viewed from the fortress above the city. (above) Days 10 & 11: Mediterranean Crowds Notes and Tips: Going into this trip, I planned obsessively for Madrid and Paris and even the rural parts of Andalucia. I had no idea what Murcia or Valencia was besides what I learned when I took ancient history a long time ago. And that was not much. I knew there were Roman colonies in what is now Spain, but there is something seeing their ampitheaters with your own eyes. There is a lot of driving in this part of the country. Spain made an effort to have free roads parallel the toll roads and in this part of the country that is very useful. Valencia is a major world port and industrial hub, but the rest of the coast is made up of summer resports and they were packed while we were here, mostly with French and English tourists looking for a warm beach. Next time I visit, I would probably make more of an effort to visit this land in between and get to know Valencia, in particular.     Most scenic: The fortified city of Peñiscola Surprises: The language in Valencia is a cross between Catalonian and Castillian Spanish Easy to miss, but don't:  The wild beaches of Serra d'Irta along Cami del Pebret Eat: Mariscos are not hard to come by, paella Next Time: Study the area more to see all the hidden gems I drove by or didn't know about Most low-key: Cartegena's main square and harbor area Free fun: The baby beach in Peñiscola Don't: Forget to bring some water if you come in summer like we did   Road Diary: Day 10, 7/16: Cartagena traffic jam Written at Susi Hostel in Peñiscola, Valencia, Spain. Sunny, high 91°. Woke at 10am in Cartagena after a rough morning with the kids. Headed to town and found free parking near civic buildings at Cervantes Plaza. Walked along old wall to town plaza at the Ayuntamiento and main street. Enjoyed architecture which mixed so many styles from Roman to Art Nouveau, that nodded to the complex and super-long history of this naval port city. The city was founded in 220 B.C. by Carthagenian colonists and is, by far, the oldest city I have ever visited. Walked past Iglesia Santa Maria de Gracia, with great carvings depicting Mary's life. Found San Miguel Restaurant and ate paella and "Iberian mystery burgers." Big group of some Americans with kids came and sat by us, as if by magnetism. Walked down block and up stairs to view Roman ruins of a theater, built into the rocks in 5 B.C. Then walked around main plaza and along harbor walls where sculptures and large dockside mullet-like fish impressed. The monument to the Spanish lives lost in the 1898 war with the U.S. was poignant and sad and made me think of our own monument to this war at Arlington. Moseyed past submarine museum to our car. Drove out of town and tried to hit several coastal towns along way but could never find parking due to tremendous traffic-inducing crowds in every town. It made it hard to move since roads were a bit confusing. Got close to the beach in Alicante which was lively and having open-air market, but traffic was beastly and lots were full. COntinued on to Gandia, birthplace of the Borgia family, but its beaches were even more packed. At this point sun was already going down. No beach all day made me disappointed and we still had two hours to ride. So we rode past traffic in Valencia by taking the bypass. Passed some marshes filled with flamingos here near Pobles del Sud. We took a mixture of tollways and freeways through the dark  to Peñiscola . Decent spartan pension here with working AC, reasonable rates, and questionably free parking. People say "vale" instead of "si" here. It seems we are in the orbit of Catalonia.   Walking from our parking spot into the city we enoucntered street art and this great sign. The Wall of the Sea in Cartagena was built to protext the naval base from foreign attack. Columbus is honored in this naval city. The unifier of Cartagena's hsitory is that it was home to great explorers and seamen. Climbing trees at the city park along Calle Muralla del mar. The ruins of a Roman Theater was discovered recently and are being excavated. This city has been inhabited since the 3rd century B.C. Ana in f ront of the Beaux Nouveau facades of the Plaza Ayuntamiento. The Palacio Consistorial is a gathering place. A monument to the Spanish warriors who died in Cuba at the hands of American warriors during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The natural harbor that attracted Hannibal and the Cathagenians to this port. A monument dedicated to family members of terrorism victims. Andrew obviously can't read the signage in Spanish. A boat in the harbor of Cartagena. The Escultura Cola de Ballena in the harbor. Another Cartagena harbor scene. Posing at the Museo Nacional de Arquelogia Subacuatica. A downtown Cartagena summer scene. Walking around downtown Cartagena will take one past a colelction fo beautiful architecture. It is easy for American tourists to mistake the capirotes worn by flagellants during Holy Week for Klan garb. Street scenes from Cartagena. This is Calle San Miguel. The wall carvings on Iglesia Santa Maria de Gracia Cartagena. Here is the Annunciation. Seafood paella for this seafaring city from the Cafeteria San Miguel. Relaxing for lunch on Calle San Miguel. Strolling down Calle Cuatro Santos. The santos on Calle Cuatro Santos adorn many buildings. East of San Javier, we hit a BK and found out that the Smurfs are Los Pitufos here. Somewhere along AP-7, a Picasso bull. There are flamingos roadside near San Pedro Pinatar. A flamingo looking for food. wp lightbox galleryby VisualLightBox.com v6.1 Very funny... very funny... 9 year old boy. Enjoying the baby beach at Peniscola. Fish in the harbor area near Akra Leuka. The walls of old Peniscola on a peninsula, surrounded by two beautiful Mediterranean beaches. Near the Puerta de Sant Pere on the way into the fortified old city. Found some bars to lock her in near the Sant Pere gates. View of the active North Beach from the walls of the old city. Playing hide and go seek in the old fortifications of the Castillo de Peniscola. At the Castillo we found classic Spanish fort architecture, familair to us from ports in the Gulf and Caribbean. How about some Peniscola parkour? There is no wonder that Peniscola is often the scene of movie and TV shows. A view of Peniscola's old and new cities from the heights at Parc Natural de la Serra d'Irta. The Torre Badum was built to guard the port of Peniscola in 1554. On the cliffs of the Serra d'Irta. We found tide pools and wild beaches in the d'Irta. The Serra d'Irta falls dramatically into the Balearic Sea. Under the watchful eye of a medieval fortress. In the Valencian sierra we have another bull. Sunset at Peniscola. Enjoying the beach at night. The beautiful white walls of Peniscola shining at night. wp lightbox galleryby VisualLightBox.com v6.1   Road Diary: Day 11, 7/17: Peñiscola's healing beaches Written in Peñiscola, Valencia, Spain. 11.M7.17  Hi 88°, partly cloudy. Woke comfortably and late at Susi and walked down a few blocks to beach after finding free parking lot across the street. Got hamburgers at a stand on the way. Swam for hours in warm water on soft sand in shallow protected area to south of castle called Playa del Sur. I may have gotten a bit of sunburn. So relaxing and awesome after yesterday. As we left the beach, crowds thinned out and people completely disappeared for siesta time. We walked up to the Peñiscola Viejo, situated on a hill on a peculiar peninsula topped with a castle built by the Knights Templar in the 13th century and surrounded by a wall 200 feet above the shore. The white-washed city inside was super scenic and batteries and walls afforded commanding views of surrounding beaches. It is no wonder movies are filmed here and that Hannibal made this one of his headquarters on his way to Rome. We walked back to the parking lot intent on driving to the Barcelona area, but found that we booked wrong nights in Barcelona. This means I didn't have to rush so much yesterday. We drove south along mountains into the Sierra d'Irta where the road lost pavement. Up narrow winding roads past a 16th century guard tower called Torre Badum. The place is commanding, sitting atop sheer 200 foot cliffs over the ocean crashing below. Found little wild beaches here and there and rocks made for tide pools. Most locals stuck to beaches. Walked around tide pools, but hungry. Drove back to town and tried to decide where to go next. Should we leave town for somewhere closer to expensive Barcelona or stay and enjoy the night here. Should we try Susi again? It took a long time to explore these options without communication. We settled on an expensive apartment since it was close, parking was certain, it had laundry and room. We found out as we left for food that we needed to check in before 8 and that time was closing in. We also found out we needed to go to some office and not the place we were staying. The funky way Spain addresses its buildings confused and delayed our arrival. Jessica figured it out and we got key and linens. Then we went for food and had nice luxurious meal of tapas with dessert right near beach. Walked to beach in dark and watched fish jumping and an amusement park light up water. Kids got into a little fight and after a playground or two we called it quits on a nice evening. Walked back to car to get our bags past playgrounds and carp and then to apartment which we discovered has not been cleaned. It is dirty, smelly, and gross... so much so that I had to close off the rotting kitchen. No toilet paper at all. Just a mess. This sour taste was unfixable since it was late and we had no phones and they have no Wi-Fi. We have no one to call. So we made the most of it and slept in other peoples' filth. At least we had clean linens. A loud, stinky, hot night thanks to Apartments 3000.

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