11/16, Wednesday. Castellon CDT airport runs a bus for passengers. €12 to the bus station at Castelló. Mine was at 13:40, even though our flight landed ~12:40, and it was the only flight at that time. The airport was deserted except for my fellow passengers. ~12 onboard of the bus. The journey takes ~30 minutes. Perfectly missed the train at 14:05. The next train is in one hour. Last night's research paid off, I knew this would be the case. This gives me time to check out its downtown.
I walked to the town center, just shy of 1 mile east. The park (Parc Ribalta) is very nice and of a good size, with a pond and ceramic tiled benches.
A very beautiful post office building. In front, is the entrance to an airial shelter, closed.
This town (and many others, I found out later) takes a siesta. Here 2-4pm.
Looked quiet everywhere, even the market.
The wash basins in the market are also tiled. It's right at one side of the small and pretty plaza major.
There are better looking buildings close to the main plaza. Near the train station, all is ugly modern development.
Bought the 15:04 train from a real human, because I cannot work out the machines. They want a phone number of +34, and I wasn't able to cheat that. The guy gave me a Renfe&Me card, the ticket he sold me is 20% cheaper than online.
My train was late. Quite some people were waiting. Most wore face mask on the train.
I stopped at Sagunto, site of the siege of Saguntum in 219 BC, which trigged the Second Punic War between the Carthaginians and the Romans. I'm here to visit the fortification that stood against Hannible for 8 months.
The town of Sagunto is composed of 3 parts.
One is on a hill where the castillo sits on the very top.
Walking up, passed a couple of old buildings.
Just below the castillo is the Roman Theatre.
This is the first declared heritage in Spain. But it has so much reconstruction, barely can see its original stones. The good thing is that it's ready for modern audience.
I really like the castle. Very large, feels like a city really.
Eventhough a lot of reconstruction, probably due to the large scale, some are left alone.
Not many tourists: saw less than 10 people. Good view all around. You can see the Mediterranean.
The sun was about to set. They close the gates at 6pm. It's not possible not to go through these two gates.
Walked down to the city center before taking another train to the Cabayan station in Valencia. I didn't visit Sagunto's port. It's a short ride. Walked to Polytechnic University housing Galileo Galile. My friend MT is a professor here. He got me a room here for free, in exchange for a talk to the students. His office building is close by. We went to the lecture room, checked that my presentation is accessible and videos are good. Need to make a few changes. Make changes on my phone is a pain. Worked well into the night. I also added some photos to lighten the talk. All this effort is probably not worth the free lodging.
