Another visit to lovely Valencia city

---

Had to take the hire car back today so decided to drive into the city, hand it in and then do some more city sightseeing before taking the bus back to the campsite.

Satnav took us straight to the car hire place. So glad Bob thought to bring the spare Satnav with us. Our old one which we use in the car, as we have a 'big vehicle' version for use in the motorhome to hopefully avoid being taken down an inaccessible rat run. Handed the car keys in and grabbed a taxi from just outside to take us to the Central market.
First stop the old Silk market (La Lonja de la Seda) as advised by cousin Gillian to be a place not to be missed. Indeed it was not. Wonderful building and fair oozing with age and history.

Also with quite a few guided tours. We didn't notice any on Friday's visit to the city. Maybe Tuesday is Valencia guided tour day but there were certainy a few about as well as an astonishing number of student groups.They were mainly sitting around whereever there was a spare space, eating something or other. I only mention this as there really were a lot of them everywhere we went and hard to miss.

Went past a church and had no idea what it was but people were going in so we paid oap rate of €6 each to go in too. This is the Iglesia de los Santos Juanes and is currenlty under major renovation or rather its fantastic baroque decoration is. One big area is netted off and there is scaffolding behind which we could see people working, some right up on the ceiling. The decoration which is there to be seen is fantastic. When it is all finished it will be amazing and actually the work did not detract as it showed how much effort is put into keeping something like this for us to see. It has been badly damaged in the Civil War particularily by fire.

Heading next to find Carre des Caballeros and the church we missed last time but we were diverted by a crepe shop and stopped for lunch. At is happened the table we stopped at was for the cafe next door but no problem we ordered drinks and tapas instead. We were too full after that for the crepes, will have to wait for those until we are back in France. Also whatever we ate yesterday in Xative was not quite 'right' and we are both feeling rather off so being careful what we eat. Even so I find it hard to resist Padron Peppers and today's were lovely.
While we were eating, the helicopter which kept flying around above us on Friday, returned and did the same and then sure enough loud fireworks sounded for 15 minutes from the market square behind us. Les Fallas starts here in a week's time and the city is in full preparation.

We then at last found our church, San Nicolas, the entrance being tucked away down an alleyway. We were by the closed big entrance doors overlooked by some apartments so I called to ask a man on the balcony if it was abierto or cerrado.... he understood to my amazement, especially as conversation was at a distance, and sent us round the building to find the way in.
The renovation of this fantastic interior is complete and it is indeed aweinspiringly beautiful. We got a discount on the entrance price as we produced our ticket from the other church and got a combined ticket . Worth every euro cent. I do find I keep having to put 50 cents into candle boxes quite frequently at the moment as must do everything we can, which is in fact so very little, to feel better about the dreadful events on the other side of the world.

Lots of photos later, some of which are included here, we left and set off through the lovely Valencian streets again. We really love this city. There are so many amazing buildings to admire and even the side streets are attractive with their many balconies and multi colours. We found our way back to the square where we had seen some covered up Fallas sculptures on Friday. Today they were uncovered so I managed to get a photo. Can't imagine how exciting it must be in this city when Les Fallas is in full flow but am sure the whole city will be heaving with people and lots and lots of noise.

We headed back towards the sunken river area meaning to stroll along there but came to the bus stop instead and both admitted that our feet had had enough for the day so caught the bus back to the campsite instead. We will do the river gardens next time we return which we surely will.

Back at the campsite we packed up the groundsheet, now dried out from its drenching and the loungers, which we have not really used and which had been sitting in the wet under the van until we got them out this morning to dry. Van now filled with fresh water which is easy as we have an onpitch tap and Bob brought a handy hose with us which attaches to the tap. We had a query what to do about gray waste (the tap/ shower water from the van which collects in the tank underneath). We rarely stop on a pitch more than 3 nights so empty at the campsite grid as we leave but have been here 7 nights. I by chance had spotted a lovely big bowl in the campsite shop which fits under the waste tank perfectly so we now have the perfect solution for longer stops.

This campsite does have excellent entertainment facilities especially for the young and includes horse riding. While we were taking a stroll round the site we found a farrier at work shoeing on of the horses. We also found two of the campsite cats (mother has two kiittens we think) taking comfy advantage of our loungers which we had retrieved from under the van and left them to dry in the sun. Felt quite mean when we packed them away,

Tomorrow we leave for Roses, quite a long drive North to the top of the Coast Brava, so will set off promptly and will be using toll roads but must stop at a supermarket along the way as almost out of lots of things including essential milk and juice.

---