El castell de L'Albiol, les Virtuts i la Serra del Pou

This is what we did last Thursday, 15th of August. First we walked till we reached Les Virtuts, a church in ruins on the top of a cliff.

It was beautiful up there, with little birds twittering in the trees and two eagles flying overhead. We stopped there to eat our lunch. Then we walked back a little way and took another route which would take us up the mountainside to the top, along a little way and then back down, almost to the point of departure. We found many interesting flowers and these two little treasures which were worth taking photos of:

The views were breathtaking from so high up...

L'Albiol castle from La Serra del Pou

La Serra del Pou from L'Abiol castle

Our path through the woods

For the most part the forest is red pine, and there were little, tiny pine cones everywhere (more about that in another post!) In all, a round trip of about 10 kms and at the highest point we were about 900 metres above sea level.

 

The castle might have originally been built as a Roman watchtower, but later became a border castle during the Arab domination of the peninsula. It was reconstructed and ruled by different lords and then in the 17th century the Castillian troops knocked it down after the rebellion of "the Segadors" which the Catalonians lost.