Officially devistated

 We are heading to Xerica - if you like Valencian and Jerica is you want to go all Spanish  It has the usual collection of Roman tombstones and Moorish bits.  Everyone’s favourite freebooter, El Cid, conquered the place in 1098 and the oldest sections of the castle date from that. It was finally taken by the Kingdom of Aragon in 1098.  A more detailed History can be foud here https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9rica






We are going to nip up a street or two.  Ok, we will go down one of those new roads which was designed to have things built round it but they haven’t quite managed yet. We will scramble up the space between it and the road we were meant to go and so find ourselves in the Restaurant El Rullo.  It has almost 1000 reviews and gets 4.4 stars.  https://elrullo.vistaandco.es/ Suckling lamb chops costs 17 euros and artichoke is 8.50.   FM Deluengo said, three days ago, ‘We had dinner in the tent, deafening noise, I think there was a bachelor/bachelorette party, good service, price a little high but that's what you get in these towns.’




The town has about 1650 people living in it.  This is a 100 better than 2001, but down on the 3500ish till the 1920s.  https://www.jerica.es/ The town suffered much during the Civil War and petitioned to be considered part of the devastated areas - which meant the state paid for the reconstruction of buildings like the Town Hall.




We are going for a wander around and around the back streets.  We are going to look at the The Bell Tower aka the Mudejar tower of Alcudia. It was begun in 1616   Being a somewhat tall thing it was fortified in 1837 during the Carlist Wars.   The five bells are devoted to Saint Anthony, Our Lady of Sorrows, The Holy Sacrament and Saint Agatha, Saint Christopher and the Virgin of the Rosary and St George and Saint Maurus.






We will have a peak at St John’s gate - Reviewer Francisco said ‘Gate of the second enclosure of Jérica, it was also called "of the Clock" and "of the Bells" during the 16th century because the first public clock in Xérica was installed in its tower.;




So it is and so it ends.  Back to the N-234.

















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