Tin toys and keys to the kingdoms – part 2
A warming and sometimes fiery digestive – and a castle for keeps
ALMOST every mountain restaurant in the Mariola will offer you a glass of herbero (also called hierbas), a warming and sometimes fiery digestive. Each has its own recipe handed down from generation to generation, which usually consists of a mixture of medicinal herbs such as thyme and camomile macerated in sweet anisette.
Most of these concoctions are delicately referred to as clandestino (unlicensed). One producer of legal ‘herbero’ is Fabricación Artesanal de Licores de Hierbas Rufo, and their premises can be found in what is little more than a garage at Calle Penya Roja, 10, Banyeres.
Three generations of the Rufo family have been making ‘herbero’, using between 15 and 20 different herbs to create the range of four flavours the small shop has on offer. The shop is usually open to the public mornings only from Monday to Friday (Tel. 96 556 63 33/606 61 29 57).
Leave Banyeres and head for Villena and Ontinyent, joining the CV-81 a kilometre out of Banyeres heading towards Villena. As you travel the arrow-straight road, in front of you the towering blue cupola of Beneixama’s San Juan Bautista church rises from the plain, accompanied by its twin towers and large clock.
In Beneixama you can also visit the 12th-century Torre de Negret and the 18thcentury Ermita de la Divana
Aurora (the chapel of the Holy Dawn), which was built by Valencian sculptor Josep Esteve and is thought to have pagan origins.
At a roundabout take the CV-81 to Villena. A few minutes later you come to another roundabout that directs you to Cañada, a village that lives mainly from fruitfarming and a small industry of textiles and leather. Here you can buy a fresh white cheese called ‘queso tierno’, made from a mixture of goat and cow’s milk, and Terreta Rosé wine, made exclusively in the village from the monastrell grape.
Cañada is best known for the mystery play enacted every January 6 and 7, which started in 1764 and is grandly titled La venida y adoración de los Santos Reyes Magos al Niño Jesús (the coming and adoration of the child Jesus by the Three Kings).
There are only 18 main roles, but almost the whole of the village joins in as shepherds and villagers. On the first day, Epiphany, historically the day when children were given their presents long before Christmas Day was celebrated nationally, the Three Kings come from different parts of the village to meet at the belén (crib) to present their gifts. On the following day they re-enact the flight to Egypt and Herod’s massacre of the innocents.
In the parish church, in the heart of the village, hangs a painting entitled ‘El rey San Luis de Francia’ by
the famous 19th-century Valencia painter Joaquín Sorolla.
Leave Cañada by Calle Mayor that passes in front of the church. Cross a road with a Stop sign and, when you reach a junction at the edge of the village, turn right for Biar.
A seven-kilometre rural drive from Cañada on the CV-807 brings you to Biar, said to have one of the bestpreserved 16 to 18th-century building heritages in the Valencia region. The name of the town originates from
Roman times when it was called Apiarium (beehive), as it was one of the most important areas for honey in eastern Spain due to the abundance of flavoursome mountain herbs.
If you have the energy to climb up to the castle through steep winding streets from the Plaza de la Constitución (the town square), you will be rewarded with glorious views of the Vall de Vinalopó. The Torre de Homenaje (the castle keep) is one of the most important in the region and one of only three in Spain with ribbed vaulting on its arches (on the second storey) that intertwine to form a rosette in the middle of the vault, a feature that dates it to the second half of the 12th century.
The lower two floors are of Moorish design, while the third is a 15th-century addition, built at the same time as the double bailey that protects its southern face. A plaque inside the keep, placed there when it was conquered for Aragon by Jaime I in 1245, declares in Latin ‘Only the king has two keys’, signalling his dominion over both warring factions.
Biar’s 15th-century parish church, La Asunción de la Virgen, has a LevantinePlateresque façade, much weathered by the centuries but still highly impressive. Inside, the Shrine of the
Communion is one of the leading examples of Churrigueresque Baroque. Just off the square on Calle Mayor is the little Museo Municipal.
Modern-day Biar lives on the production of dolls, blankets, and hand-forged metalwork, including gates, verandas, bedheads and balconies, which are still made in the traditional way. Small-scale ceramics factories, which have been a major part of Biar’s economy since the 18th century, produce everything from vases, dishes and bowls to flower pots, draining boards and large earthenware jugs.
Biar
Castillo: 12th-century castle with one of the most important keeps in the region. Call the tourist office on 96 581 11 77 for tour reservations
Museo Municipal (Museo Etnográfico): a small museum displaying local artefacts. Calle Mayor, s/n. To check on hours and make reservations call tourist info
Iglesia Parroquial: 15thcentury parish church in Plaza de la Constitución.
Acueducto Ojival: 17thcentury aqueduct on the edge of town in the direction of Banyeres.
Cerámica Maestre, Camino de la Virgen s/n. Tel. 96 581 00 62: Pottery with public viewing. Contact by phone for visiting times and to make a reservation.