Last weekend we went to Castillo de la Duquesa. This perhaps isn't a well known place to anyone who lives outside of the area but it's a sweet little village that has lots of fun things to do and it's well worth a visit. As the name suggests, there is a castle here and it is usually open for people to explore inside. There are surprises to be discovered if you venture into the rooms that lead off from the courtyard.
Inside one of the rooms there is a fencing museum filled with information about the history of fencing, and if you feel like challenging someone to a duel then you can do just that because there are masks and epees for visitors to try out. We decided that our boys and weapons might not be a good combination and so we moved swiftly on to the next room hoping that it would prove to be a less hazardous environment.
This wasn't completely the case. The next room is full of glass display cabinets with lots of historical artefacts including some great reconstructed pottery bowls, as well as some free standing displays of various clay objects and sculptures.
Having wandered around the roo. After declaring everything to be 'broken' Henry went up to a display of stacked tiles, put his hand on it and gave it a little push. "This doesn't move mummy!", he said. Feeling very relieved indeed that it didn't move we quickly ushered him out deciding that we would climb up to the top of the castle walls. Surely castle walls that had stood for so many years would be Henry proof!
From the top of the castle there are some lovely views and the walls are not so high that they bring on a case of vertigo. It has been previously documented that certain members of my family don't like heights and won't climb to the top of high buildings, so it is proof of the moderate height of this particular castle that we all successfully reached the top and nobody suffered any ill effects or made for a quick descent!
As we wandered out of the castle we headed down to the playground so that the children could have a play. While they played with some local children under Daddy's watchful eye I wandered off to take some photographs to show some of the highlights of Castillo de la Duquesa. It has a reputation for having some fantastic restaurants and while I've never actually eaten at any of these, judging by the smells emanating from them and the contented looking people sat outside on the sunny terraces I can only assume that they live up to their reputation!
The village is very scenic and there are some wonderful details to be noted.
Around the playground and along the paseo there is a series of seats decorated with beautiful mosaic representations of scenes from the local area. Each one is different and they are very striking. There is an eye catching mosaic mural of the name of the village as you drive in, and even the walls of the local guarderia are decorated with mosaic pictures of children's TV characters. It really does make for a very colourful experience!
After exploring the village we went back up to the park which is next to the castle. This has an open grassy area, a playground and a little stream running from a water fountain to a well. We often sit in the sun while the boys play on the slides and then find little leaves on the surrounding grass and follow them as they float along the stream.
So you see, for such a small area it really is packed full of fun things to do and it is definitely worth a visit!