Avinda de la Mar and Avenida del Papa Luna, Peñíscola

I started the second day in Peñiscola in the dark, and after admiring the wonderful picture of the still sleeping town from the walls of the fortress, I went for a walk around the resort part of the city.

The northern shore of the isthmus connecting the fortress with the land forms a small bay, along the shore of which runs a wide Marine Boulevard (Avinguda de la Mar).

Here is an elegant Sea fountain (Fuente Marítima), made in the style of Antoni Gaudi by Decó Escultura studio. The fountain is dedicated to the Spanish writer Camilo José Cela, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1989.

Next is a children's playground decorated with a sea dragon also in the Gaudi style.

Peniscola's main boardwalk, Avenida del Papa Luna, runs along the North Beach. This wide palm alley is more than 5 kilometers long, reaching almost to Benicarlo, where hotels, restaurants, cafes, discos are lined up.

Most of the hotels are closed during this period, blinds are drawn on the windows, but in some poor Spanish pensioners rest, taking advantage of fantastic discounts (15-20 euros per day), in the evenings they excitedly dance in discos to the rock and roll of the 60s.

The embankment offers the best view of the island-fortress, where in the 14th century the Templars built an impregnable castle, and in the 17th century the Spaniards strengthened its banks with high walls with artillery batteries. The island became known as the refuge of the schismatic antipope Benedict XIII, known as Pope Luna (Pedro Martínez de Luna).