Wednesday Walk - Village Guadalest, Spain

I'm almost late with my post for #WednesdayWalk, because it's nine o'clock in the evening here in my time zone. Okay, almost ten. But in some parts of the world, there is still plenty of time left on Wednesday.

Today I didn't have time to walk, in the morning I was busy learning a new way of recording the sound of the piano, and when you are not so young anymore, learning requires a little more time.

Therefore, I will now share one walk we had a couple of years ago, to a village about half an hour away from our place of residence.
It is called Guadalest, and it is a village built on a rock above a lake.

A rock and beautiful landscapes of mountains, valleys and a lake.

This lake has not always existed here. It was actually a valley where a small river of the same name, Guadalest, flowed.

With the arrival of tourism in this part of Spain, in the middle of the last century, coastal settlements were supposed to solve some water shortage. This part of Spain is otherwise a dry part, it is sunny for over 300 days, and what is left for rain is not always heavy rain. Just a few clouds and light rain. A couple of times a year, heavy rain falls, called Gota Fria, when a large amount of water falls in a few hours ... Floods occur ... and then after that, we can wait for months for rain again. In order to use that water, artificial lakes were made where rivers flow from the nearby mountains, and especially when that heavy rain falls, water collects in these lakes. This water is later channelled to coastal settlements, to meet water supplies that are in demand due to the number of people now inhabiting the coast.

One part of the valley is surrounded by a dam, and all the water coming from the surrounding mountains collects there. The water is extremely clean and cold, we bathed there a couple of times in the summer, and it's a real treat. Seen from a height, from the village, the water has a beautiful turquoise colour.

This walk was our first visit to this village, and we were with friends. The streets are typically Spanish, narrow. Tourism has left its mark here as well, small shops and restaurants adorn the streets. But the old castle and fortress are still there.

There was also a small church that we entered. It is small but quite big enough for the inhabitants of this small village.

The main altar:

Some manage to make money interestingly. If you want a photo with this statue, ie a person, it's time to leave some coins.

What you see in the following picture was a space used as a prison in the past. It is carved in stone. What refreshment must be there during the summer, lol. Fortunately, this space is no longer used for these purposes, but tourists can go down to look.

This is the townhouse with flags, Spain, Valencia and Europe. This is a typical one, usually in those old villages they are similar to this one. Now, looking to the clock in the tower, we can see that it was midday, the hottest part od the day. I don't remember was it to warm or not, but what is sure, now I know that the best time to walk is early morning or late afternoon, during the summer. Experience makes miracles.

Of course, this walk was done while it was still possible, and with a lot of people together. But at least I could bring it here for this #Wednesdaywalk. Hope that you enjoyed it.

Thank you for your time.