After all the food we had eaten and wine drunk for the past few days, it seems appropriate that we should get out and do some walking, serious walking. After saying goodbye to the lovely Hotel El Tollo, which we had become quite fond of it, it was off to the Natural Park, Las Hoces de Cabriel.
Valencia – Utiel- Requena Wine Tour – Part 3
the park is located in the area around the Cabriel River, which separates the regions of Castile-La Mancha and the Region of Valencia and covers more than 30,000 hectares.
The unique landscape features rivers, crags, gorges, and is an area of Special Bird Protection. We had a guide to take us for a walk and point out places of interest and plants indigenous to the area. He also took up to some great viewpoints where we could see for kilometres.
It is a huge park and is laid out with many trails to explore depending on your level of fitness. Visitors can try mountain-biking, canoeing and canyoning, along with hiking trails.
Our journey was coming to an end but there was one last vineyard to visit, Neleman, in Casas del Rey is a wholly organic operation. I loved their motto, happy bee, happy tree, happy planet, happy you. Yes, they keep bees too.
Neleman Organic Winery
This is an organic and vegan winery and Neleman Winery won the world vegan vineyard award last year. It also has very quirky designed labels for their wines. We had a very pleasant times savouring the wines with a selection of traditional tapas. It was the perfect end of an interesting tour of the Utiel-Requena area.
Returning to the Hotel Eltollo, when we arrived in Utiel, we came from the motorway to a service station area. Oh oh we thought, we’re staying at Barack Obama Plaza!
However, this hotel soon dispelled our reservations. It was a lovely friendly place, helpful staff and a wonderful collection of quirky art and sculptures. The rooms were very comfortable and air conditioned. We enjoyed a few evening on the terrace relaxing after our wine-exploring days and went to bed happy.
Getting to Utiel-Requena is easy from Ireland with flights from Ryanair to Valencia from both Dublin and Cork.
The tour of Valencia and Utiel-Requena was organised by the Spanish Tourist Board in Ireland with Valencia Tourism and Utiel-Requena Tourism. See my visit to Valencia here.