Blogs from Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain, Europe - page 16

We had set our alarm for 8 the next morning, but upon waking up decided it was best to reset it for nine. At this point supposedly Chris pushed it a bit later to 9:15. When I finally woke up I had an uneasy feeling that it was a bit later than it seemed. Looking at my computer and seeing 11:56 confirmed that. At that point I jumped out of bed, since, well, WE HAD 4 MINUTES TO CHECK OUT. I quickly called reception to ask for an extension but due to the place being booked we needed to get out immediately. Despite this he then said to take 25 minutes if we needed it. Um, ok? We brushed our teeth and packed up as quickly as possible, managing to leave the room by 12:17. Phew. ... read more

Ola, After leaving Barcelona, I headed south along the coast to Valencia. I arrived before noon, and headed past the opulent buildings and into the old town known as the Barrio del Carmen where my hostel was located. It was a great hostel with single beds in each room and a beautiful two story atrium and lounge area that was one of the best ones I had ever seen. I didn’t stay in the hostel long as I was in town for two reasons. The first was to see La Ciudad de las Artas y las Ciencias (CAC), the most famous work of Santiago Calatrava, The second was to try and see the F1 Grand Prix that would be happening their on the weekend. I started walking through the city and I immediately enjoyed it. The ... read more

Again, I don´t have time to put pictures here right now, you can see them all at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/91387210@N00/sets/72157621908366740/ I am giving you fair warning that this entry is pretty much about food and being lazy. It´s not entirely my fault as I am traveling in a country where they pride themselves on spending their time at one huge and delicious meal talking about, planning and, let´s face it, fantasizing about future meals. If you are feeling ill, hungry, overly full, or over worked you might want to read this at another time. On Thursday afternoon (over a week ago Thursday that is!) after Arantxa went to meet her cousin for lunch and I had spent the morning at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía we packed up the car (and it was packed!) and headed out ... read more

I have had the best time in Valencia but I haven’t done much at all. I find during the day it’s to hot to enjoy the city, so I just laze around . Most days I have sat up on the terrace listened to music and had a few “drinks”, and played some DS. Most nights I have been hanging out with people that I have met and head down the square once the terrace closes, the square is great fun for people watching. The other night there was a fight between 2 of the guys that wander around and sell beers. It was more like a clown act though, one guy was running away and kept falling over whilst the other guy kept throwing swings but couldn’t quite catch up. The stray dog just added ... read more

Valencia day 12-13 (July 22- July 23) It was a long day of travel to get to Valencia, 9 hours by bus. The bus had a no eating or drinking policy and only planned one stop after about 4 hours. There was no toilet on board. However, the reality was that the stop was after only 2 and a half hours, and there were several 5 minute stops at bus stations along the way. The trip was less painful than anticipated, bus usually being not as comfortable as a train, but it was highways most of the way and having the ipod fully charged the hours passed quickly enough. The olive groves became less frequent as oranges became more prevalent. Toward the end the ground became more like slate and it was amazing how the oranges ... read more