Before we left Canada we bought a two month unlimited Eurorail train pass. I love European train travel. The stations are always in the middle of the city and easy to get to by metro or walking. You don’t have to arrive 3 hours ahead – and you get to see the countryside on your way to the next destination. So today (Sat morning) we took the metro to the station, activated our train pass and headed 3 hours to Valencia.
The countryside changed from populous and industry to miles and miles of orchards. Mostly orange orchards but others as well. It was the first sign of spring that we saw. Lots of flowering trees and greener trees than Barcelona. We were heading South so I guess that makes sense. The train followed close to the coastline so many times we were looking out on the Mediterranean Sea.
We met our landlord and checked into our AirBnB. This one is much more luxurious and roomy. We got a great deal as the couple that are developing this building into apartments are still in the middle of construction so the lobby is full of cement bags and ladders but they are renting out the finished suites. We love it. King size bed, nice new kitchen and bathroom but most of all we love the terrace. It opens up to the pedestrian only street below and is a great place to have morning coffee or end of the day nightcap.
We are just down the street from the big Central Market and we knew it closed at 3 so we threw our bags in the suite and ran to get some fruit before it closed. Wow what a beautiful market – it will be closed Sunday but we will def go back Monday. We bought strawberries and 2 kinds of oranges. The oranges are unbelievable here. So sweet and juicy. There was a booth selling lasagnas of all kinds so we bought a sausage and feta piece and a mushroom tomato piece, some focaccia onion bread and a big piece of tiramisu – wrong country we knew, but it just looked so good (and it was). We were both draggy so we headed home for siesta.
The little siesta was great but not enough to recharge. We hit the wall tonight, between interrupted sleep from getting adjusted to new time zone and going hard touring we knew we needed a home night. We brought our fire-stick with us for nights like this so we plugged it into the TV – enjoyed our market feast, washed a few things out in the kitchen sink and hung them to dry on the little line on the balcony and headed to bed early. We will enjoy Valencia tomorrow!
Day 2
We woke up refreshed and headed for a stroll around our apartment area and then to the beach. It was about 18 degrees and sunny, perfect with a sweater. There are almost 20 kilometres of beaches in Valencia. They are all wide, with sand between white and golden, and the sea water is clear and clean. Our landlord recommended El Cabanyal Beach for good paella so that is there we headed. We walked the sand and dipped our toes in the cold Balearic Sea (part of the Mediterranean Sea). Towards lunch we walked up to the restaurant row on the beach and found the one that was recommended to us. We had some coffee and orange juice first (everything here that’s orange is unbelievably good), then we ordered some goat cheese croquettes and then paella with an Aperol spritz. The paella was classic Valencian so it was rabbit, chicken, broad beans, artichokes and of course, rice. lIt was delicious. We forgot phone chargers so our cameras and Google maps (which we depend on to find our way) we’re almost done, so we headed for home.
After a break we walked to a nearby grocery store and bought some fruit for supper tonight. After that big lunch oranges and strawberries make a great supper. Just after we got home we could hear music and ran to the terrace in time to see a band celebrating something going by on the street. I’ll attach the video! We learned it’s the beginning of Las Fallas de Valencia which an annual celebration of the coming of spring, celebrated by burning artistic monuments in the tradition of ancient Valencian carpenters. The festival also includes street parties, parades, and ornate 18th Century costumes. This is just the very beginning but we got to see some of the Falles monuments on display that will be burned and saw lots of bands and singers and heard lots of firecrackers!! This is so intriguing we are going to head to the Falles museum tomorrow and learn more.
