The journey

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While watching that enthralling bit of Spanish Opera I decided that Valencia sounds nice this time of year, so off to the home of the 32nd America´s Cup it was. After retrieving the car from the dodgey parking spot up on the hill at San Sebastian south I drove.

The drive through the centre of Spain is quite nice really. You start by going up a winding mountain road with views to die for, if you could see them through the fog and rain that is. Then across the plateau to Zaragoza,which must be the wind farm capital of the world, they are like a forrest of trees on every hill, there must have been hundreds of them. From there it´s across the plain, just like the Hay plain really except it´s a four lane freeway and there´s little Spanish villages along the way. Fortunately the Spanish haven´t got the hang of charging for their freeways like the French have and it´s a free ride.

I am wondering how many Holy Communions Spain can have in one day though, after stopping at three different restuarants that were totally booked out due to communion celebrations, I gave up on the quest for food and determined that a Kit Kat is a meal. I did manage to pass through a terrific looking wine area that had more then a few wineries open for tasting on any day but communion Sunday. But all was good when I drove into a town late in the afternoon and saw the wall of jamon (that´s ham for the non Spanish speakers). The first shop was not all that impressive but the next one had all that I needed. Wall to wall aged jamon (complete with hoof) just hanging there. This stuff was good and it just melted in your mouth, my rough interpretation was that it had been hanging around for up to 18 years. For the bargain basement price of €2.50 I got the jamon on a crusty roll and a glass of not so rough red, smiles all round I say.

Refreshed and nourished it was time for the last sprint to Valencia and the America´s Cup. Not having a map of Valencia was not really a hinderance at this stage as there was nice big signs pointing to the America´s Cup. Just follow the signs and there it is, drive in the car park (after the police kindly inspected the boot) and park the car. I´ve arrived at the longest running sporting event in the world, the America´s Cup. Time to explore Port America´s Cup, sort of like arriving at the Olympics really, except without really planning it.

After checking out the scene, viewing the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America´s Cup and working out that there was a race on the 22nd as the Spanish won against New Zealand today it was time to find a place to sleep. Ok this is where having a map would have been somewhat handy. Not that a GPS would have been any more useful as you need to know where you want to go with one of them. I managed to drive around a little and not find a hotel, or the centre of town for that matter. First miracle, I find a tram stop and how clever are the Valencians they have big maps at each stop showing the area and the city. Problem solved, take a photo of the map and work out how to get into town. Second miracle after the fifteenth semi directed lap of the old city and not getting much joy in finding anything that remotley looked like a hotel there was a dusty car park and as luck would have it a 1* hostal across the road. Yes a home for the night and it only cost €15 for the night for a double room complete with shower and toilet. I was really expecting that there would be hookers working out of the rooms or a drug lab next door but no, not that I really cared as it had been a long day.

Get up next morning and head off back out to the America´s Cup port to get a ticket for a spectator boat for the next race in the Louis Vuitton Cup, how good is this.

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Comments

[phil]

jamon
nice jamon man - will it make it through customs? Or post pack me some.

[Magoo]

Kit kats
Gaz, if soup is not a meal, then a kit kat in Valencia can hardly count, put some jamon in the boot for next time, with a bottle or two of the red, they both might age together.

[Bronwyn]

So my question is can you see the Great Wall of Jamon from outter space? p.s. if you can blog about doing laundry I am going to start a vacumming blog. b.x.