Valencia! City by the sea! What a beautiful weekend, I can’t imagine a better place to enjoy the sun!  I saw the Mediterranean Sea for the first time and went wading, but it was very cold and had garbage floating in it. Dan says that’s most likely because of the heavy rain, which tends to wash things out to the ocean. I also had my first Spanish/American hamburger, which was made even MORE delicious by my gut-wrenching hunger at the time.

Ok, a little more in sequence: Valencia is a four hour bus ride east of Madrid. This trip was suggested by my fellow American Katrina, who had a free weekend from work and wanted a travel buddy. Everything was closed or on hold for Semana Santa, so I gladly accepted the invitation!

The two of us made reservations at the Red Nest Hostel, which was very trendy, neat and full of friendly people. It was certainly less boisterous than the hostel in Vancouver! Katrina was waiting for me when I arrived (she came a day earlier) and we immediately went in search of lunch, which meant trekking down to Plaza del la Reina, which was full of other out-of-towners. Men lined the sidewalks, hawking fedoras, sunglasses, jewelry, dvds and other mass-produced trinkets.

In the plaza where we ate, there was a large ornate church called Catedral de Santa Maria de Valencia. For 2 euros, you can climb up a winding stone staircase to the top of a bell tower in the Catedral! Just like the tower of El Alcazar in Segovia! When we reached the top of the tower, we could see the entire city. It was so windy, I was positively quaking while I took pictures, but it was totally worth the view!

We walked all over that afternoon, and for dinner we went searching for Paella, which is a very typical Spanish dish consisting of rice and seafood or chicken. Although it’s typical in Spanish homes, you can’t find paella in most restaurants because it’s considered a tourist dish. The  Spanish restaurants I’ve visited seem to consider traditional foods passe and prefer to serve international foods. My paella Valenciana was delicious, even with the presence of a whole chicken head on my plate. I did not eat the head, I just pushed it to the side and tried to avoid eye contact with it.

After dinner, we went in search of crepes. We split a fresh crepe filled with chocolate, bananas and nata (whipped cream). So delicious! While we waited for it to cook, we were approached by a young couple looking for an Easter procession and discovered, after conversing in Spanish for a bit, that the girl was American and they both spoke English! Funny ol’ world, isn’t it?

Our power breakfast the next morning was churros con chocolate taza and “illy” coffee. Yummmmm. In the plaza the bells were clamoring and pealing in honor of Easter. There was to be a procession later, but our plan was to use our last few hours touring the city on bicycles!  On our leisurely walk to the bike shop, we found an open air market, which was so awesome! There were vendors selling everything imaginable, and I was able to purchase a few unique gifts that you couldn’t find in any store!

We finally got to the bike shop, my purse sagging with weight, at about 1 pm, which gave us roughly 5 hours to ride. The nice man gave us 2 bikes with baskets and the half-day price, which meant saving 5 euros each (thanks guy!). There are gardens lining the main roads, only one level lower, so when you’re in the garden there’s the sensation that the city is far, far away. We pedaled happily along the dirt paths, passing families on picnics, children flying kites and other people out enjoying the sunny day.

The highlight of the ride, for me, was seeing the beautifully designed buildings which comprise El Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. I highly recommend googling images of these buildings, they’re all arches and stripes and curves; the first one we saw strongly resembles the Rocketeer’s helmet. One building had a harp-like piece reaching 10 stories high! The glowing white shapes, in combination with the blue sky and crystal azure pools, made for a breathtaking experience.

After a bit of searching and a lot of pedaling, we found the beach! The water was blue and cold, the sand was soft and toasty, and the shoreline was teeming with people! We took our pictures and reveled for a bit, then went searching for food. I’m afraid we broke every possible rule of international travel by ordering hamburgers, but they sounded so good at the time! And they were delicious! After we ate, we cruised back to our hostel on Calle de Paz to pick up our luggage and ride to the bike shop. The ride back was so nice, it seemed almost effortless to glide over the paved bike path while the sun peeked over the buildings!

After returning the bikes, we had time to rest in a grassy, sunny spot, get horchata and ice cream at the mall & rest stop before finding our bus home. We both collapsed into our seats and dozed for most of the trip. It was a full weekend and a wonderful experience! I feel so privileged to have seen Valencia while I’m here in Spain!

Tags: Semana Santa, Valencia