From Barcelona we want to head to the artsy community of Mojácar but it’s an epic 7.5 hour drive between the two, with the infamous resorts of the Costa Blanca (Benidorm, Alicante etc) in between. We don’t fancy stopping at any of these and instead, Ben finds a great looking hotel in a converted convent , Montsant, in the hills above the town of Xàtiva. Before this, we make a stop for lunch in the pretty little limestone hill town of Peniscola. Beneath the town is a wide, soft sandy beach where we take a pleasant paddle. A couple offer us their old sun loungers but alas we cannot fit them in the Mazda! It seems to be early in the season and the beach and town are pretty much deserted but the whole area around the medieval town is surrounded by high and low-rise accommodation. Most of it looks empty (balconies are shuttered, with no belongings left out) but we can imagine that, when full, both the beach and town would be crowded. We eat an average quality lunch and later, when we get to our destination, kind of wish we had just pushed on to spend more time at Montsant, but all of this is with hindsight and there were worse places to break the journey.
Montsant is an oasis of calm, but to get there requires navigating the tiny streets of historic Xativa, followed by hairpin switchbacks to climb up to it’s hillside position. It’s not for the faint hearted, although we could have maybe found a better route around the town had we not relied on the Sat Nav!
The hotel is set in beautiful garden grounds and we quickly unwind from the journey by wandering round the terraces and pathways, picking fresh oranges from the trees to enjoy as a pre-dinner snack. Our evening meal is also very special. It begins with three amuse bouche (amuse bouches? amuses bouches?!), the first being sea bass ceviche wrapped in beetroot and decorated with popping balls of salmon roe. The second is a small shot glass layered with apple compote, sea urchin mousse and whipped cheese, topped off with a walnut. The final of the three is a square of duck ‘strudel’ with an almost brulee-d top – it’s rich and sweet and could almost be dessert. We need some bread to spread it over to dial down the intensity. Our starter (oh yes, we are only just now on starters!) is a dry cured sardine fillet with textures of avocado and tomato on a crostino, garnished with raspberry and mozzarella. For me, the tomato is a highlight, having been poached, perhaps in soy or stock to intensify the tomato flavour. For main we share a portion of black rice with squid and artichoke. Deep fried artichoke crisps give texture and more intense flavour. After all this, a light pudding of stewed wild strawberries with foamed custard and sweet strawberry ice cream is very welcome. We wash the meal down with glasses of local white with a lychee flavour, a bargain at €2.50 a glass! Delicious!
In the morning we spend a couple of hours exploring the ruined castle with great views over the valley. We don’t really have time to explore the town itself as we need to press on to Mojácar, but we could easily have spent a full day here, with two nights in Montsant hotel – although our waistlines may not have agreed!