Forna- A beautiful mountain pueblo!

Here at Jacaranda Spain, we love to reserve a Sunday for exploring the beautiful pueblos in the Marina Alta and the surrounding areas. For us, there is no better way to do that than to jump in the car, with our pointer Sunny, and head out with no more than a general idea of our chosen direction.

This week we had to a tiny little Spanish pueblo called Forna in mind, in the municipality of Adsubia.

Forna is a tiny little village, hidden in the hills and if you blinked you´d miss it. Which would be an awful shame because it is stunning. 

The journey is a scenic, winding road that takes you on a 40 minute drive to Orba and on to the neighbouring villages of Tormos and Sagra. Skirting round the outskirts of the town of Pego the road takes you through orange, lemon and avocado groves and then on, to the more mountainous roads that take you up to our destination.

We found a place to park and took Sunny for a walk around before heading into the central plaza. The village is so pretty and all the houses have the name of the original owner over the door. Casa Evarista, Casa Maria, Casa Angel and, just when I thought there were no foreigners in this village, Casa Roger!

We decided to time our visit with almuerzo (which is the Spanish equivalent of brunch). The only restaurant in the village is in the central plaza in front of the church. “Nautilus” is famous for it´s traditional Spanish food like paellas, other rice dishes and tapas, as well as serving hearty breakfasts, Spanish style. There were some enormous tostadas and bocadillos coming out, stuffed full with chicken, bacon, calamari and tortilla. We went for a tostada with tomato and tortilla francesa (french omelette) and a plate of beautifully cooked, lamb chops. Delicious!

We finished off with a “cremaet” (crem-a-et). This also seemed to be a speciality which was very popular. Cremaet is made in a glass with rum, lemon rind, a piece of cinnamon, sugar and roasted coffee beans. This is flamed and then coffee added over a spoon to keep it separated. A perfect end to a thoroughly enjoyable meal!

Following the road up the mountain you will come to the Castillo de Forna. This medieval castle dates back to the 13th century and is currently undergoing restoration works. If you want to go, check opening times, as it is restricted until the works are completed.

We highly recommend a drive up to Forna. Lovely just to stroll around and maybe buy some locally sourced honey. A lovely spot for lunch or, as we did, almuerzo. Especially wonderful on a sunday with the sound of the church bells, rung by hand, and the hymn singing of the locals, sitting under the shade of a beautiful mulberry tree.