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Blogs from Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain, Europe
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Making Friends I Can't Understand
Published: May 9th 2013Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Valencia
May 9th 2013
From Barcelona I decided to try the bus as a means of transportation instead of the train. It would take 8 hours to get from Barcelona to Valencia, but I was all right with that. There were lots of stops along the way so it all right. I didn't really enjoy the hostel I stayed in as there was a very large group of Italians staying there and no one else. That didn't make it very easy to socialize and meet people. It was also very cold in the dorms! However, they did have fresh oranges for us to enjoy which I discovered was a common practice in Spanish hostels. Having a fresh orange is a great way to start the day! Since I wasn't staying in the most comfortable atmosphere I spent the majority of ... read more
April 28th 2013
Sunday Valencia Went for walk along river park towards. Estuary and great place but only 10 degrees plus constant drizzle , ended up in science museum to get warm and architecture is Star Wars type, very modern Had few small beers in skinny bar plus lunch, menu in Spanish uncle ken crap at Spanish so ended up with iced soup, not happy when my nice hot paella valencian with chicken turned up Great Craic and we now having small rest before tapas dinner in local restaurant, ken mentioned he needs to release rest of "frank Bruno " so gone off to squeeze him out in his loo. Spanish water playing hell with his bowel movements. Just been garage to top oil on my BMW tractor, plus add some very nice Honda stickers to kens bike to ... read more
Freighter Travel Notes: La Spezia to Valencia
Published: November 27th 2012Europe » Spain » Valencian Community » Valencia
September 3rd 2012
Friday, July 31 After our frantic 24-hour rail journey from London to La Spezia in Italy, we were so exhausted that we slept through the noise of containers being loaded onto the ship and didn't wake until lunchtime. No doubt the crew have their own routines that shape their day but as a passenger on a freighter the day is divided into meal times and other times. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are at fixed times - miss out and you don't get to eat. Morning and afternoon tea are optional. Lunch today was: Oxtail soup / Calamari, peas and chips / Fresh fruit. It may not sound exciting, but it was freshly prepared, well presented, very tasty and more than enough to fill us up. We finally sailed at 15:00 only to anchor about a kilometre ... read more
June 27th 2012
So it has been a couple of days since our last entry - we spent the two days in Mar Menor resting and enjoying the sunshine. We swam in the Mediterranean! Mar Menor is located in the southeast cost of Spain and is the location that all the British residents travel to get away from the cold and rain. It was odd to be among English speakers again and Meredith did not have to really use her Spanish at all. On Monday, we loaded up the Ferrari for the last time and headed to Valencia. We drove about 2-1/2 hours north, spent 45 minutes guessing our way to the hotel, dropped our luggage and took the car back to the airport. Valencia is not a auto-friendly OR Americans-in-an-auto-with-bad-directions city so we are glad to be rid ... read more
June 18th 2012
Valencia (Valenthia) June 18, 2012 Today we departed Barcelona and headed toward Valencia, a 7 hour day on the road! Breakfast was another buffet and departure was promptly at 8:00 PM. Today our riders had a test. We were assigned seats and were introduce to the Trafalgar tradition of rotation. The first problem is, no one really checked their seat number posted on the bus door so one were sitting in the right seat, thus requiring much changing and causing much laughter. But we soon figured it out the, well most of us did anyway. In any event we finally settled in and off we were. Unfortunately, we learned that Richard had gotten sick last night. Something at dinner did not agree with Rick, so at 2AM he got sick and spent the rest of the ... read more
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June 3rd 2012
We arrived in Valencia after a short flight with a very famous budget airline. These budget flights can end up costing much more if you don’t read the fine print. First if you do not print your boarding pass it costs you 50 euro, if you do not pre purchase checked in baggage it costs you, if your bag does not fit in the carry on section (which they make you demonstrate before you are allowed to board then it costs you 40 euro, one poor girl fell into this category). You are not allocated seat numbers instead its a first come first seated basis on board which would explain why there was a massive line at our gate as soon as it opened (We will remember this for our flight to Malta). Arriving into the ... read more
May 17th 2012
A vegetacao na estrada entre Barcelona e Valencia eh diferente do que de Madrid a Barcelona. Eh tudo mais parecido com o Brasil, muito verde, arvores, montanhas. Tinhamos marcado de um host em Valencia nos receber, soh que ele soh poderia nos encontrar as 7pm, e haviamos chegado as 3pm em Valencia. Decidimos dirigir em direcao ao mar e dar uma espiada na praia. Areia branca, praia imensa, pessoas fazendo esportes, comendo nos restaurantes. Decidimos nao descer do carro e dar uma volta no centro primeiro, depois voltar para a praia, ateh porque tinhamos tempo. Achamos o centro da cidade e tiramos fotos do carro mesmo, era soh para ver o estilo da cidade mesmo. Tinhamos que voltar para a praia, e quem diz que achamos o caminho de volta? Nao fazemos ideia de onde fomos ... read more
March 23rd 2012
Makeout Queens and Kings Valencia is a beautiful city. I must admit after spending four days here, I think I like it better than Barcelona. It has such a wonderful feel to it, with lots of delicious Paella Valenciana, stunning architecture, friendly locals, a lovely beach, and the most amazing park. I would move here in a heartbeat. There are so many people out with their dogs every single day so I really do believe that my dog Bill would be happy here too. Oh and Lee, there is the coolest park ever to go running through :) We arrived in Valencia right after the famous fire festival called Las Fallas. The festival is held in commemoration of St Joseph. Each neighborhood is responsible for creating their own falla which is then burnt out in the ... read more
November 8th 2011
Yesterday, on my 39th birthday, we woke to a beautiful shimmering Mediterranean morning. The sunlight was playing off of the water in the distance and I felt like it was wishing me a good year. ☺ We got our stuff together, checked out of the hotel, and started to drive toward Valencia. We had a hankering for some food, but didn’t want to guess at a restaurant. So we headed toward the golden arches. The arches led us to a mall. So we went in and bought a couple of things, headed to McDonalds and had a nice burger ‘n’ fries type of meal, followed by my first birthday treat, which was Häagen-Dazs – a scoop of crème brulee and a scoop of chocolate with pralines and caramel. Yum. We got on the road for Valencia. ... read more
November 8th 2011
30 OCTOBER - MADRID Landed in Madrid from Dublin on Sunday. Glad to see a bit of sunshine. Due to our amount of luggage, had to take a taxi to our hotel. After arriving, discovered that there was no lift (elevator). UGH!! So, up we went, 3 floors. In Europe they consider the ground floor as 0, and we were on the 2nd floor. Checked in and waited for Wolfi to arrive. He was one of the exchange students (from Germany) who lived with us in PA. He had arrived Saturday and was quite energized by the city. I can see why. He was very happy to show us around a bit as we walked around and got our bearings. Went out for tapas and drinks to plan what we would do. The Spanish do love ... read more
