I had mixed feelings about this trip to Spain, until Valencia. I realized while in Barcelona that I'm kind of over it. One of the things I love about traveling is discovering something new - arriving somewhere unknown and getting to know that place. Unfortunately, Barcelona has nothing novel for me anymore because I've been so many times - my marginal enjoyment is less and less so I think that this will be my last trip to Barcelona for a few years. Costa Blanca was a bit disappointing - while Alicante was charming and the vistas along the coast are very interesting, most of the small towns were a bit blah, and everything was closed ALL the time.
Seriously, Spain. Maybe you're on the brink of financial collapse because you're always taking siesta and never working!
But then, we arrived in glorious Valencia. At first, it looked like it would be a disappointment - everything around our hotel was closed when we arrived on Sunday afternoon. We walked around the old city center and it was quite charming, although most of the stores were closed. I joked to P that the theme of our trip was: "cerrado". We found out from our concierge that the last bullfight of the season was that night, so we went to the ring during the afternoon and secured tickets. After walking around the old town and eating four different types of hot/cold chocolate at Valor, a Spanish chocolate institution, and visiting the cathedral that claims to hold the holy grail, the cup that Jesus drank from, we went to watch the bullfight. It was simultaneously disturbing, bordering animal cruelty, yet exciting and intriguing. We saw six bullfights in total and while I had mixed feelings during the matches, by the end, I concluded that it was a really cool experience, very Spanish and very unique.
Today, our second day in Valencia, we visited the central market to buy food items to schlep back home, rented bikes and biked around the park and historic city center, then spent the late afternoon at the beach. And that's when I fell in love with Valencia. It's like 3 different cities in one - super modern art/science museum with the greatest aquarium in Europe (we haven't visited yet, that's in our plans for tomorrow), super laid back beach town with one of the best beaches in the world, and historic town with colonial architecture influenced by Roman, Christian and Muslim invasions.
I'm loving Valencia and I'm so glad I found a new part of Spain to love.
That being said, I really miss El Hombre and can't wait to get back home so I can spend some QT with him!
Seriously, Spain. Maybe you're on the brink of financial collapse because you're always taking siesta and never working!
But then, we arrived in glorious Valencia. At first, it looked like it would be a disappointment - everything around our hotel was closed when we arrived on Sunday afternoon. We walked around the old city center and it was quite charming, although most of the stores were closed. I joked to P that the theme of our trip was: "cerrado". We found out from our concierge that the last bullfight of the season was that night, so we went to the ring during the afternoon and secured tickets. After walking around the old town and eating four different types of hot/cold chocolate at Valor, a Spanish chocolate institution, and visiting the cathedral that claims to hold the holy grail, the cup that Jesus drank from, we went to watch the bullfight. It was simultaneously disturbing, bordering animal cruelty, yet exciting and intriguing. We saw six bullfights in total and while I had mixed feelings during the matches, by the end, I concluded that it was a really cool experience, very Spanish and very unique.
Today, our second day in Valencia, we visited the central market to buy food items to schlep back home, rented bikes and biked around the park and historic city center, then spent the late afternoon at the beach. And that's when I fell in love with Valencia. It's like 3 different cities in one - super modern art/science museum with the greatest aquarium in Europe (we haven't visited yet, that's in our plans for tomorrow), super laid back beach town with one of the best beaches in the world, and historic town with colonial architecture influenced by Roman, Christian and Muslim invasions.
I'm loving Valencia and I'm so glad I found a new part of Spain to love.
That being said, I really miss El Hombre and can't wait to get back home so I can spend some QT with him!
2 comments:
make sure you try paella in valencia! apparently that's where it started and is the best. but don't get the valencia paella -- that has snails, rabbit, and chicken. we wanted to hurl after eating it, although it was cooked well. --g
i kinda liked the paella valencia! I'm not a huge fan of paella generally, but I liked it in valencia. Such a charming city/town, was sad to leave it! Last night in BCN before heading back to HK tomorrow - Spain was great, but kinda glad to be going home!
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