11^th As we’d had such a busy couple of days, it was nice just to sit around, soak in the sun and go for a walk on the prom – basically doing not a lot.
12^th The following day was again blessed with sunshine so we decided to go for a car ride up the mountains behind the site, the Desert de les Palmes, a protected area full of peaks and ridges of deep orange maritime sandstone.





We had coffee at the Desertio restaurant of the same name, whose balcony overlooks a deep ravine and ruined monstery and the high rise apartment blocks of Benicassim in the hazy distance. The rocks and vegetation are wonderful here, with the dusky greens of desert plants and brighter greens of trees and shrubs framed against the orange rocks for which this area is
famous.


Moving on, we drove the full length of this mountain range, admiring the stamina of the runners and (mad) cyclists we encountered on the steep hairpins – this is NOT a ride we would consider! Going down would be hard on the brakes, but going up inclines of 4%......insane. Still, they seemed to enjoy it, so we left them to it and descended as far as the Hermitage of Magdalena where families were enjoying picnics in the rocky park.




We retraced our steps up the winding road away from the crowds and stopped for lunch at Restaurante Bruno and enjoyed the house Spanish omelette & a tortilla washed down with beer. The terrace was a quiet, shady spot surrounded by flowers and a very relaxing place to while away an hour before returning to the site.