1st stage: Villajoyosa-Relleu.

(Clic here to return to the main page of the website of the Way of Saint James from Villajoyosa)

Click here to see the 2nd stage Relleu-Torremanzanas 19km
Click here to see the 3rd stage Torremanzanas-Ibi-Onil 28 km
Click here to see the 4th stage Onil-Biar-Villena 21 km

 

Link to the route in Wikiloc (elaborated by the Group of Pilgrims of Villajoyosa and Benidorm): click here

 

Description of the route (written with the collaboration of the group of Peregrinos de Villajoyosa and Benidorm):

 

Once in the old town of Villajoyosa, we start from the Casa de la Juventud, on Calle Fray Posidonio Mayor, next to the Town Hall. The current Casa de la Juventud is the former Hospital de Pobres ('Hospital for the Poor'), which gave service to those who started the Way of St. James from Villajoyosa. A plaque commemorates this fact on the façade of the building, and serves as the start of the itinerary.
 

Before starting the road you can take a tour of the old town of Villajoyosa or one of the routes that join the extraordinary historical heritage of Villajoyosa, equipped with seventy panels, accessible to all people, with different contents that can be consulted using a QR code (you don't need to download any application, just have a QR reader on your phone). You have there some information about the routes that are being uploaded to Vilamuseu's website (click here). In the Plaza de la Generalitat you have the start panels of the routes of the Old Town (click here to access more information, such as maps in Google Maps, audio description in six languages, video in Spanish sign language, etc.) and City Route (click here).
 

From the Plaza de la Generalitat walk towards the Calle Mayor, and pass under the arch of the Town Hall and through the northern entrance to the old town. On this slope there was the ancient Portal, or main door of Villajoyosa's walls. Cross the old national road N-332a in the Plaza de la Generalitat, where the forum of the Roman city of Allon must have been, and after passing a monolith marking the Way of St. James, continue along Álvaro Esquerdo St. to leave the urban area.

At the end of the houses find the chocolate factory "Valor", in front of whose main entrance down the street Pianista Gonzalo Soriano there is a roundabout in which it was found a road dating from the s. VII a. C., in Phoenician times, next to tombs dated until late Roman ages. This road led to the interior valleys passing through Relleu, and therefore is the precedent of Camí del Peix-Way of St. James from Villajoyosa.

 

In Chocolates Valor you can visit the Valencian Chocolate Museum and the factory (more info here).

 

Follow a track that is attached to the back wall of the factory Valor and go along some nearby houses. Following this track, between farms and orchards, ass under the national road N-332 and continue straight on a paved road that runs near the CV-770. 

 

You'll find, at the opposite side of the CV-770, the traditional neighborhood of La Ermita, where you can make an interesting tour with some accessible panels (more information here). We must warn that there is no pedestrian crossing to cross the road CV-770, which links the N332 with the entrance to the highway, because it is a fast road for vehicles, and to access La Ermita you must go by vehicle or coming on foot through the opposite side of the road from Villajoyosa, taking as a reference the bike path that departs from the Plaza de Juan Carlos I and continues along the Pianista Gonzalo Soriano St.

 

Continuing the track, move away momentarily from the CV-770 crossing the irrigations of the Era de Soler next to the Olivera Grossa (a millenary olive tree, to the right of the paved road) and approach the road again when it is next to the Autopista del Mediterráneo, AP-7, taking advantage of the layout of the CV-770. This road has a bike lane on its east side.

 

Continue next to the road with bike lane and take, later, another smaller road that goes perpendicular to this, on the left. Pass by a sports complex, where the Rugby Stadium of Villajoyosa is located and, on this road, head towards the Amadorio Reservoir.
 

Cross over the track on the other side of the reservoir and continue advancing on the shore of the reservoir, leaving the road to descend towards a bridge that will allow you to cross the La Mola ravine and continue advancing near the reservoir, between the mountains of Relleu and Orxeta.