Page 260 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

258  EASTERN SP AIN

Fishing boats on the shore of the freshwater lake, L’Albufera
e L’Albufera r Xàtiva Iberians. Under the Moors it
became prosperous, and in
Valencia. @ n Carretera del Palmar, Valencia. * 29,300. £ @
Racó de l’Olla, 963 86 80 50. ∑ citma. n Alameda de Jaime I 50, 962 27 the 12th century it was the first
gva.es/va/web/pn-l-albufera 33 46. ( Tue & Fri. _ Las Fallas (16– European city to make paper.
19 Mar); Fira de Agosto (14–20 Aug). Among the sights in the
A freshwater lake on the coast streets and squares of the Old
just south of Valencia, L’Albufera Along the narrow ridge of Town are a former hospital with
is one of the prime wetland Mount Vernissa, above Xàtiva, a Gothic-Renaissance façade,
habitats for birds in Eastern Spain. run the ruins of a once-grand and a Gothic fountain in the
It is cut off from the sea by a castle of 30 towers. It was largely Plaça de la Trinidad.
wooded sandbar, the Dehesa, destroyed by Felipe V in the War The oldest church in Xàtiva is
and fringed by a network of of the Spanish Succession (see the Ermita de San Feliú (Chapel
paddy fields, which produce p66). Felipe also set fire to the of St Felix) on the road up to
a third of Spain’s rice. town, which continues to wreak the fortress. It dates from around
L’Albufera is fed by the Río its revenge in an extraordinary 1262 and is hung with a number
Turia and connected to the sea way – by hanging Felipe’s full- of 14th- to 16th-century icons.
by three channels, which are length portrait upside down in
fitted with sluice gates to con- the Museo de Bellas Artes. + Castillo de Xàtiva
trol the water level. The lake Until the attack, Xàtiva was Subida del Castillo. Tel 962 27 42 74.
reaches a maximum depth of the second town of the king- Open Tue–Sun. &
2.5 m (8 ft), and is gradually dom of Valencia. It is thought E Museo de Bellas Artes
shrinking because of natural to have been founded by the Plaza Arzobispo Mayoral 2. Tel 962 28
silting and the reclamation of 24 55. Open Tue–Sun. & 7
land. In the Middle Ages the
lake encompassed an area
over ten times its present size. t Gandia
Over 250 species of birds – Valencia. * 78,000. £ @ n
including large numbers of Avinguda Marqués de Campo, 962
egrets and herons – have been 87 77 88. ( Thu, Sat. _ Las Fallas
recorded in the lake’s reedbeds (16–19 Mar). ∑ visitgandia.com
and marshy islands, the matas.
L’Albufera was declared a nature In 1485, Rodrigo Borja (who
reserve in 1986. Many birds can became Pope Alexander VI)
be seen with binoculars from was granted the title of Duchy
the shores of the lake. of Gandia. He founded the
A visitors’ centre at Racó de Borgia clan and, together with
l’Olla provides information on his children, was later implicat ed
the ecology of lake, the paddy Felipe V’s full-length portrait hanging in murder and debauchery.
fields and the Dehesa. upside down in Xàtiva Rodrigo’s great-grandson later
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp567–8 and p591

258-259_EW_Spain.indd 258 26/09/17 11:01 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.1)
Date 5th December 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm