Valencia Trader

Xativa, papal city

Xativa Town

Xativa is the birthplace of the painter El Espanoleto, and that of two popes from the Borja dynasty.  Visits are recommended to the Seu (Cathedral), the churches of Sant Feliu and Sant Pere, the Royal Hospital, the palace of the Marquis of Montortal and the Alarco palace, the many fountains in the town and its enormous castle on the mountain - a fusion between an Iber-Roman fortress and a Moorish stronghold.  The sweet-toothed should not leave Xativa without trying a dessert called arnadi - made especially during lent.  A visit to the Almodi museum features a portrait of King Felipe V hanging upside down.  It has long been a tradition here, because the townsfolk were once expelled and the town was set to the torch by this king after he won the battle of Alamansa in 1707.

Xativa Castle

The nearby Cova Negra (Black Cave) revealed relics over 30,000 years old and an intact Neanderthal skull.  In the 11th century the Muslims built Europe's first paper manufacturing plant here.  After the Reconquista, Xativa became Valencia's second largest city.

Info: Lonely Planet and Turisme Generalitat Valenciana - (Angela)