Tweet
200 year old oven
On a bit of a whim today, I pulled off the road and went exploring to find the castle grounds of Sagunto, north of Valencia.
We walked around the ruins of the castle and marveled at much of the Roman ruins. There was a Roman amphitheater below the castle that had been restored for modern use. There was a storeroom up within the castle walls that had carved stone foundations for central pillars to hold up the roof and a whole series of clay vessels still half buried in the ground that must have held stores for olive oils, olives, wine, grains, nuts,....who knows what!!
Anyway, this is probably the largest castle grounds (walled city) I've ever been in and at the other end of the castle from the Roman Forum was another area with a wood fired oven!! This thing was huge! I'm guessing it was 4 to 5 meters in diameter. Lined with thin bricks on edge and covered with a lot of masonry in an arch pattern. Talk about holding some heat....I'll bet they got multiple bakes out of that baby.
This oven was obviously part of a military operation about 200 years ago (the castle site goes back over 2200 years and is a key historical monument) and based on the size of the complex, there was a lot of food cooked in it. (BTW...the 200 year figure came from an attendant at the Roman museum on site)
I'll go back to take measurements and take pictures to post. I was surprised how big in diameter it was and that it had a relatively low dome, I'm guessing less than a meter high. What an interesting find....
We walked around the ruins of the castle and marveled at much of the Roman ruins. There was a Roman amphitheater below the castle that had been restored for modern use. There was a storeroom up within the castle walls that had carved stone foundations for central pillars to hold up the roof and a whole series of clay vessels still half buried in the ground that must have held stores for olive oils, olives, wine, grains, nuts,....who knows what!!
Anyway, this is probably the largest castle grounds (walled city) I've ever been in and at the other end of the castle from the Roman Forum was another area with a wood fired oven!! This thing was huge! I'm guessing it was 4 to 5 meters in diameter. Lined with thin bricks on edge and covered with a lot of masonry in an arch pattern. Talk about holding some heat....I'll bet they got multiple bakes out of that baby.
This oven was obviously part of a military operation about 200 years ago (the castle site goes back over 2200 years and is a key historical monument) and based on the size of the complex, there was a lot of food cooked in it. (BTW...the 200 year figure came from an attendant at the Roman museum on site)
I'll go back to take measurements and take pictures to post. I was surprised how big in diameter it was and that it had a relatively low dome, I'm guessing less than a meter high. What an interesting find....
...enjoy every sandwich!
Comment