Among the green and unsuspectedly damp valleys of the Serra d'Espadà stands in silence what remains of the village of Jinquer. Ruins originally Arab and now covered with ivy and uncovered to the sky, some 30 houses and a church. There are long shadows, of rounded mountains crossed by trenches and bunkers, and of a castle also in ruins.
Between 1938 and 1939 the village found itself at the center of one of the hot fronts of the Spanish Civil War. The Francoist army advanced eastward headed for Valencia, and on the heights of the Serra d'Espadà, on its ridges and among its valley bottoms, fell helmets and rifles no longer useful to those whose strength to breathe had been taken away by a bullet. The village was permanently abandoned, choked by the smoke of the bombings that reach even the most intimate corners of the world. Today ruins remain in a place of silence and peace unsuspectedly created by war and screams.
Although it can be reached by car, from a narrow, poorly traveled road from Alcúdia de Veo, it is surely more fascinating to leave the honor of ending the journey to the feet. From the parking lot of the ancient Nevera of Alcúdia de Veo a road climbs and then descends gently, becoming a path through pine forests. There is silence, and past a ridge at the highest end of which tower trenches and bunkers-a nice detour-we descend to a view of the ancient castle. It is right to stop for a moment and look at it: it seems to see time. The valley is silent, on the edge of the hectic orbits of our world, but it was not always so. This is evidenced by the ruins, of layered eras filled with joy and not, of people who saw necessity and not an afternoon's stroll here. Looking at what remains of Jinquer Castle one can feel the slow stroll of the universe. In any case, one cannot go up to the castle without climbing: there are no more stairs but only rock. It has finally achieved its impregnability. The church, on the other hand, is open, facing the village, roofless but with a ritual-looking altar weeping rubble. Someone has built a small pew to sit and watch it in its glorious resistance to gravity. Jinquer is a silent place. If you are in Valencia and the noise is evicting your soul, this is a good place to glue it back on.
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