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Published: October 11th 2011
Mon: Barclona núnca me cansa A new day after the trek! I couldn't sleep well for my internal body feeling weird, a 16hr walk artifact 😞. All throughout the night, I heard firecrackers and cheers that reminded me of correfoc. But La Mercé was going to be next weekend, hmm.
We were meeting the landlord at noon. By 10:30, we were all packed and ready for a coffee. We ended up at Santa Catalina. I'm glad we made it there - it's like my ritual - cafe con leche and cookie assortments.
Slowly walked down the stairs 5 floors with the luggage. Oof, that was so uncalled for. We stopped for tapas before we went our own ways. Pan con tomate was a pity but love tapas! With that, Bertrand and I parted. I went to Sans to drop off my stuff and to book a train to Valencia. All finished by 3-ish. From there, I had to swing by Havanna. I know, it's Argentinean but can't help it . Also, on the other end of la plaza Catalunya is the Barca shop. Not much hope but let's see. Everything is soooo over-priced - damn Nike. But! I managed
to locate a boy's large I like 😄. Nice.
I was looking at the map of Barcelona earlier to see where to hit this time. I had until 6pm to meet Jordi. I've gone most of the places 2 rounds. Result - Parc Guëll. Don't ask me why. I knew it involved walking but perhaps not as this steep 😱 Luckily, I ended up on la calle Gloria where the escalators were installed for some distance. Otherwise, I'd have taken 1 step/sec. The park was loaded with tourists but this I expected. I wanted to sit down and make calls etc. Then I realized that I wasn't able to make calls or text, oh no! It was ~5pm. Perhaps go early to Fontana and find Orange shop there. I need my phone to work!! At 5:55, it was too late to look around. Maybe Jordi knows. As I was waiting, I saw a sign on the station kiosk about phone charging!!! Timely!
It had been ~3yrs since I last saw Jordi! It was really good to catch up! We'll be in touch! Oof, had enough walking for the day but gotta get back to the hostel. Another light-sleeping
night to 5:30am!
Tue: Degustación otra vez Don't worry, I don't know why I picked 7am train either. I didn't even sleep on the train. The train was showing movie with headphones passed around, nice. Like that, I left Barcelona that never betrayed me. On my 3rd visit, I was just loving it more than ever 😊
At 10am , the train arrived at SJ station. A short shuttle got to Valencia de Nord station. From there, I was good to go. Arrived at the house no problem. While I waited to meet Carlos at the house, I thought of picking up THE paella but they were closed on Tue, shacks. No prob, tomorrow. I sat down at the xocolateria a few stalls down and had my cafe bombom 😄. After unloading, I had a few hours to kill. First stop, el cafe del camilo. It's a must in Valencia. For lunch, granizado de chocolate puro at Valor, went all-out. At 2p, I met withe Isabelle at the house and head over to San Jaume I for agua de valencia, all-out! Cava n fresh-squeezed orange, mmmm.
Lack of sleep finally unloaded with agua de valencia. After a
short siesta, I headed out to town to eventually arrive at Alboraya at 6:30p to meet Naoko. She knows that I'm fanatic about horchata . Horchata here tastes like chufa, super raw, love it. Dipping farton, *o m g*, out of this world!! I took a small bucket to go for the next days to enjoy without the travel 😄. Carlos and Isabelle had invited me to dinner, also to see Cristina. A good reunion day 😊
Wed: Excursion to Xativa Buenos días. Frozen horchata needs to defrost, hehe 😄 Took my time to get ready - out at almost 11a. Program for today was Xativa per Naoko's recommendation. But first, I had to get the paella. Tomorrow, I need to go to the airport ~noon. With much excitement, the stand was...closed!!! Panic! C'mon, it's my only chance!! Then I saw the hours posted which said 11:30 to 16. Phew, I'll come back in a bit. When I got to the stand, paella wasn't there yet. While waiting, I had tortilla that looked spongy, mmm. In no time, the paella guy arrived, yay! I told him about my story to which he was appreciative of 😊. I like that
El cafe de Camilo
Pilgrimage in Valenciait's not a mush. You can see each grain puffed to perfection, imo. Cleaned the pan, hasta el año próximo and off I went to Xativa.
A 50min local train ride arrived at Xativa at 1:30p. It's a town with castle on the hill. It was a hot day in the mid-high 20s. Just kinda followed the sign and found the "i". There are walking maps everywhere in town though. The town was studded with historical buildings and fountains from 13th century etc. Town just below the castle has narrow cobble stone streets, like mini Barri Gotico in Barcelona 😊. Legs were still tight and tired but I wanted to walk around - a bit frustrating 😞. There weren't many tourists and perhaps it was siesta time, the town was really quiet. I definitely stood out here. Some guys hanging out at a cafe didn't believe that I came from California, lol. Continuing on. At the west end of the town, a church called twenty-five steps or rather looked neat from below. It had a clear zigzag path leading up the hill to a little church. Rrrr, I wished I didn't have to climb but arrrgh. It was rough
going up. I was absolutely alone here. A nice side trip!
Last but not least, Xativa castle! It looked like the road I was on connected to the castle but it was hard to see. I had to go into what-seemed-to-be a gated backyard of a house to pick up the path. The western path to the castle was rough. Grabbles, steep and no shade, deja-vu! Didn't I have enough of this?!?! Stopping by various sights along the way, it was 5p by the time I reached the castle. Finally. Castle extends along the mountain peak left and right, with the entrance being at the lowest point...great, more climbing. At that point, I was done climbing but I couldn't stop there - dilemma. Tough it up. The castle had a nice view of the city. On the other side of the castle hill was farms. At 6p, I was beat even going down. Somehow I made it back to the train station with an aquarius pit stop, ahhh. The train arrived back in Valencia at 7:30p, perfect. Another invitation to dinner at 8p to say good-bye for now.
Thu: Crossing Pyrenees Ahhh - slept in, 8:30a!! I told
Isabelle I'd come down for tea ~9. Ok, will shower later. By 10:50, showered, had my last bit of horchata (!!) and ready to take in the last hour in Valencia. First, I swung by el mercado central and picked up la última torta de calabaza que tenía la panadería. It's this 7in diameter flat biscocho. Curious, right? It's alright but it got me more curious about the one I saw at the bakery at la plaza sta catalina. Pl sta catelina? Of course a pit stop at el cafe del camilo. My last cup, awww :'(. This 1euro shot has everything - flavor, acidity, sweetness - heavenly!! The other torta was w almond and moist, more like financier. Swallowed both (omg), walked through la plaza de la virgen, then back through la calle de caballero, passing by familiar Sant Jaume I & Jamón & Jamón! When I came back to the market, it was 11:50, just about when I had to go.
Metro is now connected to the airport. It took mere 30min ride. The last day in Spain :'(. It was really a pleasure coming back to Valencia for the 3rd time. I still think the city
is charming. I will be back soon, lo juro! For now, hasta luego as Geneva awaits!
Baboo air flight arrived in Geneva at 4:50p. Good service (b). A little low-tech debacle 😞 Just after I picked up my luggage, I was psyched to see that my text went out to Franck. He called soon after to decide where to meet - in the city or at the airport. What is easier to meet, Franck? Maybe airport...blip. Rrrrr, my phone died. 10 more seconds might have just done wonders, ugh. A lady at the airport info desk told me that I could get wi-fi at a cafe on the way to the train station. I could use skype. At the cafe I grabbed a drink at airport news-stand price, finally sat down, no good, the connection was useless, wtf?! I was growing desperate - how am I going to communicate? Luckily, I found pay-as-you-go connection at the airport. Whatever it works!!! I finally sent a text to confirm the airport baggage claim part, and to explain that there are now 2 devices for me to send n receive...sigh. At 6:30p, I get a text saying "I'm at the airport". For
15min, I didn't see him. I quickly bought connection again and just when I sent a message, I spotted Franck, finally!!!
We had planned zero, nada. I ended up staying at Franck's while he stayed with Lucie in Annecy. From there, I can do Annecy, Geneva, Lyon or whatever. All good. First thing, dinner in Annecy. I really liked L'etage during the last visit. It's on the cute strip in old Annecy but cozy. Kir cartagne, raclette, cafe & chartreuse, all-out, all amazing!!
Fri: Annecy revisited Franck threw an idea, perhaps just kidding, to run along Lac d'Annecy. Hmmm, not a bad idea 😄. My legs miraculously felt normal toward the end of yesterday. Chartreuse must have cured it. The temperature drastically dropped since Valencia. Long sleeve was perfect. Ahhh, what a life. I jogged along the walk/bike path that runs 21km along the south side of the lake. At 8:30a, sun started to peek, although white breath was still there. It was a nice path that went by the lake, numerous boat pier and vacay homes on the hill. I turned around at 4.4miles, 8.6miles total - not bad!
After shower and a few errands, it
was time to meet Lucie at the movie for lunch with her colleagues. Can't beat sitting outside and enjoying eye-catching taste bud pleasures 😄. Tartar was as raw as it could have been as it should be, with a drop of an egg yolk. Thank god for French people for eating this dish. I don't know if I find this in my hood. Tartar has minced cornichon (love!), caper and onion that cuts the meatiness, excellent! It was an enormous lunch for me. But! Cafe gourmand was too cute. Cafe came with 4 equal-size sweet bites. Better go run around the lake again! . At 1:40p, we parted for me to revisit old Annecy. It was as pretty as I remembered except with sun and boats. 3-hr straight walk through town and by the lake was pleasant. I wanted to get the shopping done before meeting Lucie at 6:30p for the night program. Mission completed.
At 6:30p, Lucie picked me up to go to her sister Claire's, then to champaign tasting at a nearby wine seller. After munchies and pre-drink, we made our way to the tasting! There were 4 tables of different champaign makers. Never really compared champaign
before but wow, it ranged quite a bit. Some had strong woodsy thing going on. The fun bunch made friends with the pourers, went for repeats after repeats.At the end of the night, the crowd subsided and we were tipsy . Returned to Claire's for more wine & munchies - good times.
Sat: Dosing off in Yvoire Woke up at 7:30a heavy-headed but hungry X(. I told Franck and Lucie to just call when they're ready to go. This morning, I went to the neighborhood bakery #2, the bigger one, Les Puis Savoyards. Omg, bakery and patisserie, beautiful things filled the showcase all the way across the store, mon dieu 😱. Totally caught me off-guard. How am I supposed to choose?? After much agony, I compromised between bread and cake - financier, some kind of thick shortbready cookie and linzer, all ~2in diameter. Eating all of that buttery things would have been too much but of course, discipline - out the window...oof.
At ~10:30a, Franck came and watched a bit of rugby world cup. After picking up Lucie and Pierre, we hit the road a bit past noon. I think everyone was tired so we changed course from
Lausanne to Yvoire. Yvoire is a little medieval village located on the south side of Lake Geneva. It's tiny but the likes of Carcasonne, it's cute to stroll around and over-priced. I guess people actually live there too. The village was fully decorated with colorful flowers and craft shops. Yvoire is one of the towns along the lake that are connected by ferry to the Swiss side.
We went for a long lunch in the terrace. I wasn't hungry but took fried anchovies to munch on. This was my prime suspect though, for the stomach attack on Franck and me X(. Oil might have been bad, yee :x. Slow stroll afterward took us until ~5p. By this time, I started feeling body aches and I didn't know why I was delayed hang-over. Since I thought I was hung-over, I took crepe. On the way back home, body ache was getting worse.
As such, we all wanted a low-key last hurrah. Lucie whipped up, let us say an operation "perfect dinner" 😉 and called it a night. My stomac totally up-side-down. Hopefully it recovers by tomorrow's flight :S. Sunday morning, Franck took me back to Genevea airport. The luggage
grew so much with bottles of Chartreuse 😉. I spent a really nice few days in Annecy, not only to see the beautiful city of Annecy again, but to also see Franck, Lucie and others. Sights are nice but reuniting and being with a good company is priceless. Thank you all for a wonderful time there!!
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