Bendinat
The legend states that King Jaume I was responsible for the name when he remarked, after a day of conquest, that he had eaten well: “Bé hem dinat”.
The castle was commissioned by the Marques de la Romana in the XIX century, seeking to imitate central European castles. He was apparently influenced by his Hungarian wife, Countess Isabel Maria Szécheny.
A XIII century Arab farmhouse was the original building.
In 2005 it was sold to Fundación Astroc, and is currently a hotel and event centre, surrounded by a golf course.
Joana the witch, a XV century legend associated with Bellver, was the wife of the castle’s commander, who abandoned both her and their daughter. When the daughter got older she was raped by her father and committed suicide. The mother sold her soul to the Devil and a week later a knight arrived and killed the commander.
Joana then continued living in the Bellver forest and a cave nearby.
Another legend speaks about a ghostly presence that occupies a space where the ex minister and writer Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos was held prisoner
