Last Saturday when we visited the very interesting Sanctuary of Saint Mary Magdalene, we also looked around the remains of a fortress located on the same hill. It was a nice, sunny day so we enjoyed the pleasant temperature, the air, the views and spent some time there around the church.
There was also a cosy restaurant; I asked my boys if they wanted a cup of coffee or a glass of juice, but they were fine with walking around and not sitting in one place. Also, they suspected it would be a more pricy place because of the tourists frequenting the sanctuary.
Although there were signs indicating where we could arrive by taking one of these paths, we stayed just there in La Mola. My son and I discovered that the entrance to the fortress was next to the restaurant (it wasn't hard to find out, except that we weren't prepared, we didn't even know that it was a fortress and sanctuary complex).
My husband was walking on the other side of the church, I think he went down to a little path through pine trees, and by the time he got there, my son and I had already climbed one of the towers. That was the picture where I was waving with both hands, and you can see it here, the second photo.
entrance to the fortress
Crossing this gate I found a very rough, uneven surface. The ground is rocky, which is probably suitable for the foundations of a stone fortress, but I am not an expert in construction, so I may be wrong. But the fact is that this complex was built many centuries ago, and I know why they used to build these castles on hills - the enemy can be spotted easily from here and a possible fight can be prepared on time.
In this area, there was a whole network of fortresses that were built in the Middle Ages. I visited more of them in June but I still didn't get there to post about the one in Villena, it is very well-preserved and has a great history. This in Novelda has just two towers, and the archaeological excavations that took place around the 1980s brought to light the remains of the fortress's premises (mill, oven, well, rooms, etc.). All these fortresses constituted an important system of defence of the Andalusian territory against the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. When the Christians took the possessions of the castles, some features of the constructions were changed.
As I mentioned, two towers are left, the rectangular one is missing its top, I think it is missing a whole floor - the entrance to that one is not possible. I just looked through the lattice.
The second tower is the one I clibmed. It has a triangular shape!! So rare I think, it was the first tower in this shape I have seen.
From this board, you can see what the fortress looked like in the past and in comparison, the current view of it. Notice the triangular tower? It says it is the only one in Spain in this shape.
Let's climb now the stairs to the top of this cool tower and see the valley and the remains of the fortress's premises. The passages in the tower were steep and dark, but luckily there were windows through which the light could enter and illuminate parts of the staircase.
We are close to reaching the top of the tower :)
The views from here were great; we could see the whole Vinalopó valley, the fields, the railways where the high-speed train passes, the highway, and the marble factories. Did you know that one of the most important industrial activities in this town is the manufacture of natural stone and marble?
Here, we see the sanctuary and the other tower and some tourists that arrived in the meantime. I hoped they would not want to climb the tower as the passages were narrow. We would have to wait until they climb first, there was no space for two people on the staircases.
The results of the archaeological excavations give us an idea of where the rooms were.
Although we were there on the top of the tower for quite a long time, it was time to go home. Ok, so the same way down as we climbed. This way is more risky; one has to pay full attention to not missing a stair while walking in the dark.
Oh, a photo of me! The credits go to Mr Mipiano.
Our unplanned visit to this Medieval castle (just the sanctuary was planned) was nice. It gives a good feeling to look at a huge territory and imagine how it was in the past. The location of the fortress was undoubtedly always well chosen, and we can see why.
