La Drova is situated at the base of Mt. Monduver (841m). If you climb to the top there is a panoramic view of the La Safor region, and on a clear day it is possible to see the island of Ibiza.
The area is mountainous with numerous walks of all degrees of difficulty, but well worth the effort for the views alone. This natural environment is a refuge for a variety of flora and fauna. There are two dozen different herbs to be found growing wild on the slopes, many specialty trees and rare orchids.
The skies are dominated by the stately Royal Eagle – you will find it gliding above the crags seeking prey. Within the forest, woodpeckers and nightingales live together with weasels, badgers and an animal that has returned to the forest after centuries, the boar. The calls most prevalent at night are those of the fox, the little owl, barn owl and common owl.
La Drova and Barx have spring water sites, which make excellent stopping points for replenishing bottles when walking or cycling.
Restaurant Parpallo in La Drova village is famous throughout the area for their paellas.
10 mins from the large town of Gandia
25mins from the beach of Gandia and the port
1hr from Valencia airport
1 hr 20 mins from Alicante airport
A GREAT PLACE TO VISIT
Crossing through Marxuquera is the road that lies to the west of Gandia and which leads to Simat via La Drova and Barx across the Coll dels Caragols. It is here that we can appreciate the scale of the mountains that enclose our wonderful valley. From any point in Marxuquera you can see the guardian of the valley – the mountain of Monduver – rising up in the distance like an 840 metre high giant which seems to watch over our lives from above.
THE CLIMATE
Summer is the longest of the seasons in LaDrova and is a very settled one with few spells of unstable weather. The Mediterranean dictates the weather we experience here between May and September with its daily pattern of breezes (except on those days with a strong westerly wind). There is little of no rain; when it does occur it is in the form of storms set off by Mt. Monduver or even the sea. The first type forms in the afternoon on days of humid heat and almost complete calm, and the second type frequently takes the form of exceptionally heavy downpours. All that is an exception, however, because the summer in our valley is a bright and dry season with plenty of irrigation and with maximum temperatures of 40° which are tempered by the Mediterranean breezes.
The onset of Autumn begins in September, generally with less turbulence than with other seasons. Once again the Atlantic winds sweep over the Iberian peninsular and bring with them the first rains, whilst at the same time the warm winds retreat southwards and are replaced by the first, albeit still mild, cold fronts. This, coupled with the rains caused by the Mediterranean (the Gota Fria phenomenon and storms from the east), mean that during this time 70-80% of LaDrova’s total rainfall occurs, with November being the wettest month. The winds increase to level 3 or 4 and the temperature drops very rapidly and steadily.