So let me start this one off by saying that I am normally the one that checks everything twice – especially details about our travels. So…what happens at first is very out of character.
We were very fortunate that our neighbor and friend David had arranged with his family for us to stay at their villa in Chiva, Spain. We looked Chiva up on a map, generally knew where it was, and I never thought about it again until we were on our drive from Barcelona to Chiva. Well, to be honest, I didn’t even think about it then. I put it into Google maps and just enjoyed the scenery as we worked our way down the coast from Barcelona to Valencia and then headed inland to Chiva. Things started to seem a little off when we got to Chiva, a fairly industrial looking large town. Now David had described it as very picturesque and tiny – a population of about 40. Things were not adding up. Also, the instructions that we had from David’s aunt were that her house was the first left as you enter into the village and the second house. We were in a big town, this was not a village where you could navigate with that type of directions, nor was there only one entrance to the town.
I texted the number that David’s aunt had given us to their neighbor Tilo, a potter, who helps maintain their home when they are away. He gave me his street address which I plugged into google maps. This took us down the street to a very industrial area with a gate that we could not enter (I really wish I had taken a picture there!). It was then that the sinking suspicion started to form that there may be more than one Chiva in Spain …and more than one Calle de la Fuente, Chiva. After several texts with Tilo we realized that our actual destination was back towards Barcelona. My navigation had turned a 270 km journey into a 600 km journey!! Now, as much as I sometimes get frustrated that Brett is so laid back, I am extremely grateful at times like that – he laughed it off and just turned around. We stopped briefly in the ‘other’ Chiva to let the kids play before heading back on the road.
We eventually found the correct Chiva (Chiva de Morella) and it was even more beautiful than David had described. The house is from the 16th century and you can feel the history in every room. The town is nestled in the hills – there are no stores, just one restaurant/bar (but we never saw it open)….and a basketball hoop!!!
The only challenge we had here was internet. I need to work each day so I got a Vodafone Spain pre-paid SIM card for our personal phone. It had 15 GB of data on it. I didn’t monitor the kids well on the first day. They got on Netflix with their IPads and the first evening I logged on to work, we had no data left on our plan. After several hours of trying, it became clear that there is no English customer service for Vodofone. It was a long frustrating struggle that involved me throwing more money at the problem but ultimately not getting any more data on our plan. Luckily our neighbor Tilo gave me access to his internet but to use it, I either had to sit outside on the street (which I did for several conference calls) or I had one window in our house that I could huddle by (sometimes with my laptop half out the window) in order to connect to his wifi. This was a good lesson that as long as I’m working, we can’t get this far off the beaten path again. I got by but it was a challenge.
About 15 minutes down the road is the town of Morella (population~2500). I’d never heard of this town before but it was so spectacularly beautiful.
The castle perched atop the hill was huge and took hours to explore. Parts of the castle date back to Roman times and was influenced by each group of invaders since that time. Entrance fee was a modest 10 Euro for all of us. It clearly gets lots of tourists but not many English-speaking tourists. We met no others that spoke English and there was no signage in English (most signs were in Spanish and French). It would have been better if we had done more internet research first on the history of the castle and the town before visiting– another good lesson for us to make sure we get the most out of exploring historic sights.
The weather was very warm and we were doing a lot of exploring and hiking. We decided to do something just for the kids. We found an outdoor pool in Fabrica Giner (about 15 minute drive away) that we had virtually to ourselves. There is a campground and guest house in this area that looked very nice. The pool had just opened for the season and the water was cold but it was perfect. It cost more to go into the pool (14.50 Euro for our family) than it did to get into the castle.
We found a book on the bookshelf in the house we were staying at that described hikes in and around Chiva de Morella. We decided to go on a 5k hike around the nearby hills. We had trouble finding the trailhead because there were no markings. After some dead-ends, we walked back to some nearby houses and asked someone who was working in a garden nearby. We showed him the map in the book that we had with us and explained in very broken Spanish that we were looking for the trailhead. It turned out that he was the author of the book!! How amazing is that!! Here he is, Jordi Sebastia i Gali. He was very friendly and helpful and sent us off on the correct trail.
The hike itself was beautiful but more challenging than we imagined. The trail was hard to follow in places but more importantly, portions were on the top of sheer cliffs. The trail was in good condition but when you’re hiking with young kids, it is extremely stressful.
I have a fear of heights and often start to feel dizzy when I’m at heights. It seems to affect me more and more as I get older. I think it was probably the additional fear of navigating three young kids (who have trouble focusing) around the cliffs that really accentuated the fear. I remember holding Riley’s hand so tight and just looking at the ground ahead of us. I could not look too far ahead or to the left over the cliff. I wanted to stop but I knew that would only make things worse because I’d have more time to get more anxious. At one point where the trail got wider, we did stop to give the kids water. We very sternly instructed the kids to sit down on the inside of the trail and we would give them their water bottles. I didn’t notice that Riley got up and started walking to the cliff edge. I am so grateful that Brett saw her and screamed at her to stop.
There were curse words from both of us once we got her back to safety. I did not let go of her hand for the next hour or so until we got back to a safe place. Now that the hike is over I’m glad we did it but I would never do it again. I’m so proud that the kids did it, especially Ronan. He has always been so fearful. He was so confident on this hike and did not even want to hold our hands while we navigated the cliff edge.
On our last day in Chiva, we visited Tilo in his pottery down the road. His pottery is so beautiful. We learned a bit about how he makes it and we bought a couple of bowls to remember this visit to Chiva.
So here I am on our last evening in Chiva. Everyone has gone to bed. I’m drinking wine while listening to music and reflecting on this week. What an amazing time we have had here. We have bonded as a family, we have conquered fears, learned about history, enjoyed spectacular scenery, and enjoyed wonderful family time in this beautiful home. I absolutely love adventures like this. Traveling somewhere we would never had known about if it weren’t for the recommendations of great friends. This house and village have given us such great memories. We are so grateful for everyone that helped make it happen; David, his mom Sarah, his aunt Andrea, and Tilo for helping us out so much while were there.
Hope we get to return one day Chiva. Onward to Malaga!!