Valencia

 

We have already decided that we should come back to Valencia despite the celebratory fireworks in the square  outside of the  cathedral “La Seu” causing a momentary panic that there was an active shooter in our vicinity!  As we found in the small towns a string of firecrackers is a common feature punctuating the end of a wedding ceremony.

We caught the train to Valencia from our small village for a 4 day stay right on the beach on the eastern side of the city.  The Mediterranean Sea was warm enough for me to swim a couple of times and the wide, flat beach is a playground and exercise venue for multiple groups who come there every morning.

Daytime temperatures were around 26C (78F) with a cool breeze every evening.  We saw on the news that the October just ended was the warmest on record for Valencia.

Some small palm trees on the edge of the beach promenade made it clear that the wind along this beach is consistent and can be quite strong but the weather was really great for the 4 days we were there.

Our apartment had a little coffee machine but we found it hard to shake the habit of walking to a small breakfast place (we had many to choose from on the beach) for coffee and some toast and the incredible orange juice squeezed fresh from Valencian oranges.

We took advantage of the many bicycle rental places to rent bikes and ride along the old river Turia that was been converted into a green space after it flooded and destroyed a path through the city in 1957. 

The river was diverted to run west of the city and its former path restored.

The city is not massive - it appears to be close in size to what Boston is with 800 000 people in the city and 1.6million including the surrounding areas.  It was founded in 138BC (I know!) by the Romans and has endured tumultuous times through its existence. 

 

The city has an old inner section called the “Centro Historico”

and some really modern museums and artificial edifices in the reclaimed riverbed which were worth a visit.  

We stopped for tapas at a cafe in the Old Town.

 

 

We didn’t visit very many places but the small streets near the beach were as expected, with semi-detached homes crowded against each other in colorful blocks

Riding buses in Valencia is pretty easy if you know which ones to catch.  The paths of the buses are described in an oval on each bus-stop so if you know which bus-stop you need you can probably piece it together.  Our host at the AirBnB was very helpful for our bus-trip into the city on the Saturday which we benefited from because we’d been on a bicycle ride in the vicinity of the central city before we were due to go in for the day.  You can download an app or just hop on and pay one Euro and 50 cents - which you can use over and again for an hour if you need to change buses on your route. 

 

On our last night we were joined by Sharon a friend from Massachusetts who has been traveling since April and had lots to share.  I'd been wanting to eat Paella and we took a vegetarian order for the three of us.  I'll be honest it tasted a little burned but who knows, I'll have to try a few more for comparison when we go back there.

 

Our visit was a little too short but the next stop is West Molesey near London to visit our daughters and their growing children!