Pego-Oliva Marshlands Natural Park, Atzúvia, Forna, la Vall de Gallinera, la Vall d’Alcalà, la Vall d’Ebo, Dénia

Marshlands of Pego-Oliva Natural Park:
An area of 1.290 hectares belonging to the group of sea lagoons, coastal marshlands and protected environments. A great number of flora and fauna inhabits a space shared with the growing of rice. Access National Road direction Ondara-El Verger detour to Pego. On our way we’ll find the Safari Park El Verger.

Sites of interest in Pego:
The historic centre deserves a visit including the Ecce-Homo chapel (baroque), the parochial church de l’Assumpció (Our Lady of the Assumption), the House of Culture: an 18th century nobleman’s ancestral home, which now houses the Ethnological Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum where, in the patio, we can see part of the 18th century town walls, the Hall’s Entrance Door (Portal de la Sala), etc. Ambra Castle crowns the town.

Sites of interest in Atzúvia:
Atzúvia is 3.5 km from Pego. We must point out its Muslim style historic centre and the Moorish fountain in the Plaça de l’Ajuntament (Town Hall Square).

Castle of Forna:
From Atzúvia to Forna, after crossing the quarries and before reaching Forna, on a smooth hill, we find the castle of Forna, which is closed to the public. If we wish to get there we have to walk on a footpath for about 5 minutes until we reach the castle’s gate.

Sites of interest in Forna:
2 Km. from Forna. We must point out its historic centre. On the village square we can go into a cave where there is a Moorish fountain with source water, which was already used by the Romans. In all the inland district traditional dishes include: the blat picat (a kind of stew with grinded wheat), the coques escaldades (flour, water and salt pastries with a river prawn stew, tuna fish, tomato, vegetables, etc.) the minjos (a sort of coques escaldades pastries with garlic and olive oil sauce(allioli), rabbit with garlic or grilled, the paella rice with meatballs, arròs amb crosta (rice in the oven with a top layer of egg), sausages, cherries, etc.

La Vall de Gallinera (Gallinera Valley):it is made up by 8 villages: Benirrama, Benialí, Benitaya, Benissiva, La Carroja, Patró, Llombai and Benissili.
Each small village has its own historic centre with churches, source fountains running past old washers, narrow and white streets, etc.

Going from one village to the other we see the Serra Foradada, since it has a great hole crossing the hill (forat in Valencian).
There are 2 castles in the area: the castle of Benirrama and the castle of Benissili, both difficult to reach. The Castle of Benirrama protected the entrance of the valley from Pego and the Castle of Benissili protected the entrance from Planes. Furthermore, we must mention the Alpatró Ethnologic Museum and the Cooperative for Sherries “Muntanya d’Alacant” (Mountain of Alicante).

La Vall d’Alcalà (Alcalà Valley):
Following the road, la Vall d’Alcalà is only a few km away. We’ll cross the village of Alcalà de la Jovada and, some 300 meters away, we’ll see the Moorish ruins of the Moorish village of l’Aztuvieta abandoned after the 1611 Moorish expulsion. There is no signposting to get there: the last detour on the left before the nevera debaix (a small slope) will bring us there. The nevera de baix is only 50 metres away on the right. It used to store the great amount of snow, which used to fall in the old days. Blocks of ice would form in the nevera (fridge), which were carried to Dénia and sold for fish capture preservation.

La Vall d’Ebo (Ebo Valley):
From the Vall d’Acalà on the way to Vall d’Ebo we’ll find the Cova del Rull, which opens to the public. Tickets can be bought at the door. It has a collection of stalactites and stalagmites.

Sites of Interest in Ebo:
The Ethnologic Museum is in the local primary school. Almond sweets known as ronyoses are typical of the village.

Towards Ambra Castle:
From Ebo we’ll go to Pego, 12 km away, and from the road we’ll see the old walls of Ambra Castle. The access is not well indicated but as soon as we pass the Sant Joan property we take the first road to the left and we’ll park in a wide space some 50 metres from the road to continue on foot. We’ll walk amongst pines for 10 minutes until we reach the castle. There are some fine views from the castle.

Once we have finished we’ll go back to Dénia.