Peniscola and Caves de san Joseph

Points to see in Peniscola:

The city of Peñíscola, in the north of the Valencian Community, is located in a

privileged spot in the Spanish Mediterranean. The 79 km2 of the municipality, 17 of
which run parallel to the coast, are equally divided between forest areas and warm
Mediterranean crops, including orange, olive and almond trees.

From the Greek Chersonesos , the oldest written reference to the name of the city from
the 4th century BC , and whose meaning is translated as peninsula ; to the Latin
translation of the Greek name that derives in "penis + iscola" and whose meaning would
result from "almost an island": we arrive at the current name of Peñíscola.
The 500 years of Muslim domination turned "Banaskula ", an Arabic referential name
for Peñiscola, into an important port, which increased with the Christian
reconquest. Some remains of the old port that you can find in the Porteta area.
From 1294 to 1307 the castle was built, under the presence in the city of the almighty
order of the temple, on the remains of the old Arab citadel. An unfinished and
interrupted castle due to the abolition of the order itself by Clement V, architect,
together with the King of France, of the origins of the start of the Western Schism .
Later it was Felipe II who conditioned the walls against piracy on our Levantine
coasts. The Torre de la Badum, a watchtower located in the heart of the Sierra de Irta
natural park, is another vestige of the passage of the imperial era through these
lands. Today, its coat of arms from 1571 is still preserved.
With the War of Succession, the War of Independence and the Carlist Wars, we arrive at
1890, the year in which Peñiscola loses its military importance, since its arsenal is
dismantled and transferred to Cartagena.
From then on, with the arrival of tourism in the 1960s and with its high historical-
artistic component, and in continuous effervescence: Peñíscola has been able to adapt to
the new times by offering a wide, heterogeneous and quality offer; becoming one of the
most appreciated tourist references for its extensive cultural, historical, environmental
and landscape values.
Today, when walking through its streets, you will feel the shelter of the fortress and you
will understand, when you are at the top of the castle, what made such illustrious
characters feel so protected within its walls.

The old town, crowned by the former residence of Pope Benedict XIII, a castle-fortress
from the 14th century, occupies an imposing rock that rises 64 m above the blue sea; it
is connected to the mainland by a string of sand that was once swept by the waves
during storms, transforming the town into an ephemeral island.

In contrast to the old town are the new streets and avenues of the tourist area. Warm
waters in summer and autumn, are distributed between the extensive beaches of fine
sand to the north of the citadel and beautiful coves flanked by steep cliffs to the south.