Village
Cofrentes is a municipality of El Valle de Cofrentes-Ayora, in the province of Valencia, at the confluence of the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, with 1113 inhabitants. The terrain is mountainous, with the Alto del Morrón, at 853 metres, as its highest point, and there are volcanic features at the cerro de Agrás, known as the Cofrentes volcano. The town sits at 390 metres, on the slope of a mountain between the two rivers. River terraces contain Mesolithic flints, and pottery from the Castell de Basta dates from Roman times. Conquered from the Muslims, it passed in 1281 to the Kingdom of Valencia by agreement between Alfonso X and Peter III the Great; it later belonged to Queen Eleanor and was sold to the Marquis of Villena before passing in 1403 to the Duke of Gandía. Cofrentes preserves its castle and the Cueva de Don Juan.
Monument
The castle of Cofrentes stands on a promontory at the confluence of the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, with remains of occupation from the Bronze Age and Iberian and Roman times. The present fortress, of Islamic origin, was built between 1147 and 1172 using rammed-earth technique to control the floodplains of both rivers; by the Treaty of Campillo of 1281 it passed to the Kingdom of Valencia. In the 16th-17th centuries it served as a palace-residence; in the 18th century it was taken by the troops of Philip V during the War of the Spanish Succession, and suffered further damage during the Peninsular War and the Carlist Wars, ending up in ruins at the start of the 20th century. Rectangular in plan, it has a lower enclosure or albacar and an upper defensive one, with rubble-stone walls and an ashlar gateway with a semicircular arch. It has been a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 2001.
Curiosity
The Falla of Cofrentes is unusual in that it is burnt on 1 May rather than 19 March, unlike all the other fallas in the Comunitat Valenciana.
Monument
Information centre on nuclear energy attached to the Cofrentes power station, visited by thousands of people every year.
Nature
Cofrentes has the only river route in the Region of Valencia through the Júcar canyon, with a 14-kilometre outward journey by boat. Along the way, wild goats, mouflons, wild boar and ospreys can be observed.
Curiosity
The Cofrentes nuclear power plant is a BWR-6 type electricity generation plant, located next to the El Plano site, on the right bank of the Júcar river, from which it draws water for cooling, about 2 kilometres southeast of the town and 3 kilometres from the Cofrentes volcano, considered extinct. It entered service on 14 October 1984 with an output of 992 MWe, progressively expanded to the current 1,110 MWe, which allows it to cover a large part of the domestic consumption of the Region of Valencia. It is owned by Iberdrola. It has an information centre on nuclear energy visited by around 12,000 people a year.
Curiosity
From the 15th century, Cofrentes, Jalance, Jarafuel, Teresa de Cofrentes and Zarra formed the old Lordship of the Valle de Cofrentes, linked to the Duchy of Gandía. The town of Cofrentes had belonged to the Crown until, in 1329, Alfonso IV the Kind granted it to his wife Leonor; in 1369 Peter the Ceremonious returned it to the royal estate, shortly afterwards John I sold it to the Marquis of Villena, and finally, in 1403, it passed to the Duke of Gandía, the origin of the lordship. Already under Bourbon administration, the Governorship or Corregimiento of Cofrentes was created, covering the whole valley and several villages of the Canal de Navarrés.
Activity
Festival declared Intangible Cultural Heritage that re-enacts the historic tradition of floating timber down the Júcar and Cabriel rivers on rafts, a trade that supported the people of the valley for centuries.
Curiosity
The clock on the keep of Cofrentes castle is considered the oldest public clock in the Comunitat Valenciana and one of the oldest in Europe still in working order.
Curiosity
The name Cofrentes comes from the Latin confluentes or fluvius confluentes, referring to the meeting of the Júcar and Cabriel rivers at the foot of the castle that overlooks the town.
Monument
A spa establishment situated at the confluence of the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, in the municipality of Cofrentes, whose bicarbonate, sulphate and ferruginous waters were declared of public utility in 1902 following analyses by Doctor Vicente Peset Cervera. The spa officially opened in 1908, drawing on the spring then called Amparo, and during the Civil War its facilities served as a military hospital. After a crisis that led to its closure in the 1980s, Cofrentes town council acquired the complex in 1981 and undertook a complete reconstruction that culminated in the opening of new medical facilities in 1989. It now covers two hundred hectares at 400 metres above sea level, with a three-star hotel and balneotherapy, hydrotherapy and regenerative medicine treatments.
Monument
Built in 1621, shortly after the expulsion of the Moriscos forced the district to be resettled, it orders the settlement that climbs from the confluence of the Júcar and the Cabriel up to the castle. It preserves an ashlar doorway and a single nave with side chapels.
Food and drink
Sierra stew that brings together beans, potato, vegetables and pork from the pig slaughter in an earthenware pot set over a low fire. It is the municipality's benchmark dish and is served in the eating houses of the valley during the cold months.