Page 255 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

V ALENCIA AND MURCIA  253

Carthaginians, the Romans
and the Moors. The ruins of
the castle are di vided into
seven divisions, the highest
being La Ciudadella, and the
most important Armas.
+ Castillo de Sagunt
Open Tue–Sun. Tel 962 66 62 01.

q Monasterio de
El Puig
Sagunt’s ruined fortifications, added to by successive rulers of the town
El Puig, Valencia. Tel 961 47 02 00.
0 Sagunt the Carthaginians, which ended £ @ El Puig. Open Tue–Sat. &
8 only, 10am, 11am, noon, 4pm,
with Rome’s occupation of the
Valencia. * 66,000. £ @ n Plaza 5pm. ∑ monasteriodelpuig.es.tl
Cronista Chabret, 962 65 58 59. ( peninsula (see pp54–5).
Wed. _ Fallas (15–19 Mar), Fiestas The town still contains This Mercedarian monastery
(Jul–Aug). ∑ turismo.sagunto.es sev eral reminders of the Roman was founded by King Jaime I
occu pation, including the 1st- of Aragón, who conquered
Sited near the junction of two century-AD Roman theatre. Built Valencia from the Moors in the
Roman roads, Sagunt (Sagunto) out of limestone in a natural 13th century. The monastery is
played a crucial role in Spain’s depression on the hill side above now home to a collection of
ancient history. the town, it has been controver- paintings from between the
In 219 BC, Hannibal, the sially restored using modern 16th and 18th centuries and
Carthaginian commander in materials. The theatre is now used the Museo de la Imprenta y de
southern Spain, stormed and as a venue for music, plays and la Obra Gráfica (Museum of
sacked Rome’s ally Saguntum. Sagunt’s annual theatre festival. Printing and Graphic Art).
All the inhabitants of the town The ruins of the castle, The museum commemorates
were said to have died in sprawling along the crest of the printing of the first book in
the assault, the last throwing the hill above the modern-day Spain – thought to have been in
them selves on to bonfires town, mark the original site of Valencia in 1474 – and illustrates
rather than fall into the Saguntum. Superim posed on the develop ment of the printing
hands of Hannibal’s troops. each other are the excavated press. Exhibits include printers’
The inci dent sparked off the remains of various civilisations, blocks and a copy of the smallest
Second Punic War, a disaster for including the Iberians, the printed book in the world.

Revellers throwing tomatoes at each other in the annual fiesta of La Tomatina

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