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Published: August 14th 2018
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Statue in Old Town
It amazes me that these things are so detailed even up to the birds sitting on them. I wonder if that was really this guy in real life.. Well we are official. We signed a lease last week for a 3 bedroom flat along the Turia River Walk outside the City of Science. Sounds great doesn't it? Our apartment is in a working class neighborhood on the first floor (which is actually the second floor...the first floor is zero) of an older apartment building. But it is nice with laminate and tile flooring and a sitting area in the Light Well, which is the center section of the building where everyone hangs their wash. I figure we will not need to buy another piece of clothing the rest of the time that we are here. Regardless, the apartment overlooks the City of Science. In the words of HGTV, "our apartment has a view of the beach" from the small window in the bathroom where you have to balance between the toilet and tub while glimpsing a small section of the beach next to the sewer drain. Our view is a little better than that. We can actually see the park from the livingroom and bedroom. But the price was right which allows us to do other extraneous activities...such as travel.
All and all, we saw several apartments both
Old Church in Old Town
The architecture is wonderful. along the river park and in the old town. And I want to tell you that Van Gogh wouldn't have lived in some of the old town apartments that we looked at. There was one that was four floors high and each floor was about 16 sq ft which was mostly steps to the floor above. The ground floor had a fireplace accentuated by a 4 ft by 4 ft by 4 ft hole in the middle of the floor. Once you traversed the obstacle path called the sitting area, you were walking into the kitchen using the floating stairs along one wall. And I mean they were floating. I figured you could fill the 4x4x4 area with water and use the stairs as a springboard into your new pool. These stairs were so treacherous that I had to help Kathy up them into the Kitchen. Now I have to tell you that Kathy is afraid of heights but I have seen her on AT trails that would scare a Grand Canyon mule. It took Kathy and I about 5 minutes to negotiate our way to the kitchen.. I knew then this was not the place for me because Kathy
Sidewalk Cafe
And so is the food. I didn't know that Valencia is home of paella. It dates back to the 10th century and the Moors. had a built in excuse for not getting out of bed all day. Then we toured the second apartment that looked like it had been lived in by 4 or 5 UK sophomores for about 3 yrs. We would also have a lifetime of used clothes here too. This is not to mention the townhouse over Mr Monkey that we previously discussed. Kathy asked the realtor about Mr. Monkey and he said that no one had complained. Kathy then asked him if anyone had lived in the place longer than the one year lease. He answered ".....well no!!!" By then we had seen enough and decided to stick with the working folk.
So we signed the lease which we needed in order to do all the other things like get registered with the police, activate our NIE with the city, get a phone, a bank account, etc., etc., etc. You can't even purchase anything from El Corte Ingles, which is the areas largest department store, without having an approved activated NIE. You can't get an approved and activated NIE until you have a signed lease and you can't get a signed lease without an approved activated NIE....do you get
Kathy Enjoying Lunch at a Beachside Cafe
Here is Kathy enjoying some of the best paella in town. So we are told. It was good. where I'm going with this? Spain must have been the subject of the original "Catch 22" novel written by Joseph Heller. If it hadn't been for our AirB&B host and realtor, we would be living as homeless people in Valencia right now and being hunted down by the state policia.
But I regress. We are having fun. We have been to the central market, the beach, old town, new town, downtown, midtown, and that part of town in between. Now we just have to get our bikes out of hock. Which takes an activated/approved NIE and signed lease. Thank God we have those two items.....
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Patty L Gilbert
non-member comment
I love your adventure
Hey Guys I love the good times ya'll are having. Keep the stories coming. I need a good laugh after eleven hour days with demil. Wink.