Oropesa, Marina d'Or, and Torre la Sal

 

Having decided to explore campsites near the small town of Oropesa del Mar as a base to reformulate our plans now we were on the Med and not zipping across northern Spain, we wandered into a slightly surreal resort zone on the coast that was completely new to us: Marina d’Or. As we headed west towards the beach and were greeted by what looked like a beached armada of giant ships - that turned out to be rows of apartment blocks laid end on to the sea - we began to work out why we had headed straight past this strip of well developed coastline in the past…

But we’d picked out a campsite a bit further north from our ACSI App that looked OK so, after carefully monitoring the signage for the one we wanted from the myriad of sites advertised by the roadside, we pressed on and pulled up outside, what else, but a full-sized, beach-side bull ring in Torre la Sal! And opposite, was not only the site we were after, but strung out along the beach, another half dozen sites, all open and all busy with what we’re coming to recognise as the ‘white walkers of the north’ to borrow from Game of Thrones – elderly/retired northern Europeans keen to warm their bones in the winter warmth of the Spanish Med – well, that’s us then!

The campsite (Torre la Sal, not to be confused with Torre la Sal 2, or Torre la Sal Maria on either side) fronted straight onto the beach and seemed pleasant enough to warrant at least a night to start with. With the sun still beating down, we chose a pitch within sight of the sea and set up camp.

With free wifi, a covered and heated pool, shops not too far and a promise of a Via Verde for some cycling nearby, we decided that actually, it wasn’t that bad – and here’s a thing about campervanning like this – once we are on a pitch and happy with it, we’re in our own little universe (with no line of sight on the beached apartment blocks), and so before long we were venturing off to explore the beach and town further south. This turned into a series of pleasant surprises; first was the elevated boardwalk that ran along the back of the beach;

Next was the amazing Parque Encantada on the beach front at Marina D’Or (the name of the apartment blocks – effectively a giant holiday village, now mainly closed for the season). The park seems to be a take on the Parque Guell in Barcelona, complete with Gaudi-esque ceramic benches, water features etc, and perhaps, in the spirit of artistic eclecticism, a nod in the direction of Dali with an old Cadillac thrown in for good measure...

Then came a sighting of a Mercadona supermarket (our absolute fave where we were sure we would find Spanish versions of Portuguese custard tarts – pasteles de crema – as well as a reliably huge and fresh fish counter); and then, the town of Oropesa itself. Like many Spanish seaside resorts, the old bit is inland, and the feel has largely been lost to the new, but what there is, is pleasant enough and provides an entrance to the cycle track we had read about – the Via Verde del Mar (see next blog entry).

We cycled up to the old town, which had lots of recently renovated houses (most closed up and looking like they were holiday homes) and also a museum – also closed…

We also explored north of the campsite where we ambled around the Parque Natural Prat de Cabanes/Torreblanca, watching as a flock of birds were emulating the white walkers and heading south to warmer climes.

Here we also sighted the original Torre la Sal – one of a string of observation towers erected in the 15thC to keep a watch on marauding pirates. Nowadays used as a backdrop for wedding photos (a shoot was underway as we walked past) and of course, the graphic image for the many campsites bearing its name!

One of the more surprising sights we came across as we explored the beach further north, was what looked like an Aire that we weren’t aware of, which we put down to the fact that our Spanish Aire book is pretty old and each year more get opened to cope with the enormous number of vans now touring Spain. So we wandered over to take a look and instead of finding an Aire, we found a large free camping spot! It seems these days that lots of peeps will share GPS coordinates of places where free camping is tolerated (usually only off season in Spain) and they can often turn into very large informal communities. We counted over 30 vans from a large range of countries, including the UK, and we got talking to a solo woman traveller who was away with her two dogs and had just arrived for a four month stay in the area to avoid the worst of a British winter. Whilst parking up in what is effectively an unfinished bit of road infrastructure for a development that didn’t happen might not be to everyone’s taste, it was hard not to admire her sense of adventure, having just sold her house in the UK and deciding to winter in the Med whilst she decided what to do next!

Remembering the days when we only ever used to free camp ourselves, we headed back to our campsite and reflected that although at €15 a night with copious hot showers, electric hook-up, a heated pool and now the all important free internet connection, we may have drifted into becoming the types of campers we used to laugh at 20+ years ago, we were clearly past caring and more than happy with our blend of mainly campsites and a few scenic free camps thrown in!

Later that night we eventually got round to some planning and decided to stay put on the site for a few days to explore Benicassim by bike along the Via Verde, marvel at Morella, an ancient walled town in the interior, and frolic in the Fuentes (25c hot springs) in the village of Montenejos, also up in the hills. More on these trips to follow shortly – in the meantime, we had some lazing about and BBQ planning to get sorted!

S.