Our first stop on our own was the city of Valencia, or Valenthia, as they pronounce it in their language of Valencian. Our apartment was SO nice. It had all marble floors, countertops, and even walls in the bathroom! it was also right next to the empty river bed which is now a park, and on the edge of the old city. The first day we walked to Plaza de la Virgen, one of the main squares in the city, which was about 3 minutes away. Then we got our first Paella, a Valencian specialty that has rice, chicken, beans, rabbit, and spices. Here is the plaza.
Valencia is an amazing city. It is one of the cleanest cities I've ever been to and is Spain's 3rd largest city. The weather was perfect with just one short rain while we were inside at dinner. Although almost none of the locals speak any amount of english, they try to help you without you even asking. When we got on the bus from the train station some lady randomly started trying to help us get to our apartment and telling us where to visit, all in Valencian. We had no idea what she was saying, and she elicited help from another younger person on the bus that spoke minimal english, but translated some of what she was saying. It was really fnny and nice, even though we already knew what stop to get off of and that there was a free art museum.
We loved just wandering around the old city and looking at all the buildings. The city has lots of blue tiled domes and polished copper domes as well. We climbed the bell tower for only 2 euros and saw it all! On our second day we went to the free fine arts museum that was very pleasant. We then walked to a modern art museum that was only 1 euro because the lady just assumed we were students. We both enjoyed the modern art museum more than the fine arts museum because it had so much weird but cool stuff. At night we went to a restaurant called the Ginger Loft and had possibly our most favorite food of the trip. It was a very swanky place, had excellent spanish and asian food, and wasn't all that expensive! I got the Chinese beef and Trillion got the chicken quesidillas, which were served with a really good aioli. Here is another look at the cathedral with its many blue domes.
The next day we went to the beach which had sugar fine sand and stretched for miles. We ate paella for lunch for the second day in a row and it was once again amazing. Evidently lunch is their main meal and the time when good restaurants serve paella. No one eats lunch till after 2pm or dinner until 9 or 10. It takes some getting used to. The water at the beach was clean and probably the warmest I've been in. It was sad leaving the beach because it was our last visit to the Mediterranean.
Right now in valencia, they're having their July festival which includes weekly fire works, music concerts, fairs, and other cultural activities. Basically the city is alive! That night we walked over to the fair and rode the ferris wheel which was actually pretty scary because it went so fast. The city is also in the middle of a concert festival which is four days long and has music every afternoon and night. We can hear it from outside our apartment and it echos through most of the city. The 40,000 tickets for it is sold out. Seal played there two, so unfortunately we just missed him!
The last day we stored our luggage at a hostel and went to the city of arts and sciences. It is a museum complex that is very modern and very cool. The aquarium was mostly outside and had all of the tanks underground. There was an amazing dolphin and diving show, walruses, sea lions, sharks, and much much more. We spent the rest of our day at the science museum which was also very different from our science museums. It had a whole section devoted to the science and history of soccer, which was fun because it had fittness tests for us to do. We are both fit in case you were wondering.
After 8 hours at the 2 museums, we walked back through the park that is in the river bed where they were having three different music concerts and cultural celebrations, as well as a fair. We walked to get our bags and then went to the train station, and eventually we got our 12:45 overnight to Granada. This last picture is for Chris, I hope you're reading. Also, Trillion wrote a lot of this so I want to make sure she gets her credit.
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