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Published: August 25th 2018
Celebration
Kathy and I celebrated our accomplishments by having dinner at El Asador de Aranda Restaurant. The food was excellent and we spent the rest of the evening strolling through Valencia's business district.August 15th to the 19th, 2018: The big events this week were the delivery of our bikes and obtaining a bank account. You know you have moved when you establish a bank account because now your money is living in the same place as you. We even have a debit card. We chose the bank because they supposedly catered to expats but when we arrived no one spoke English. However, we were able to use Google Translate to work out the fine print and get an account. Thank goodness for Google Translate, and the other 15 translate type apps that we use.
It’s a good thing too since this week we move into our apartment…Woohoo!!! And we need to pay the rent…RENT? Although our AirB&B experience has been great, there is something to be said about living in your own space around your own stuff. Right Kevin? (Kevin knows what I’m talking about. We have had many discussions about “our stuff”).
Speaking of stuff, in our AirB&B, we have been living with 4 people in about a 1000 sqft space. We have had a guy from Holland for about 10 days and now we have a girl from Germany.
The Bank of Valencia
Very ornate and imposing bank building. Excellent example of Spanish banking architecture...I suppose. Pretty none the less. Our room is about 12ft x 15ft and contains everything we own but our bikes which are in the ‘light well’ which is an open space in the center of the building where people hang their clothes. It will be good to finally be in our own apartment.
But enough of that. We have been enjoying the area as well. On Friday, we unpacked our bikes and put them together. On Saturday, we tuned them up and took a short spin of about 12 to 15 miles. What a difference a bike can make. We covered our entire walking area (an area that has taken days to walk) in about 2 and half hours. We were home by noon having lunch…with our sore butts. It was worth it though. We can cover some ground with bikes. Yeehaw!!!
Friday night we celebrated our accomplishments by going to dinner at a restaurant recommended by our host. It was very good and we had a great time. Afterwards, we walked home in the dark. We both feel that Valencia is a very safe place. On our walk home, we were among others out for the evening and we felt comfortable in
Street Mucisians
I may have included this photo in a previous post. At my age, its hard to remember. the inner city. Our realtor told us that the entire Spanish crime rate is about that of Connecticut with most crimes being non-violent such as pick pockets. I don’t know how true that is, but from our experience, it seems true.
One thing that Kathy and I have been trying to do is practice our Spanish of course. We spend at least an hour a day speaking nothing but Spanish. We seem to stare at each other a lot. It is an interesting game. Kathy will say something to me and I will try to guess what she said. Then she puts it into Google Translate and I read and listen to the Spanish until I understand. In my mind, these are meant to be short sentences that we can grasp. But today, we were walking along and Kathy stops and starts typing. And she writes, and she writes, and she writes. I finally pulled MY phone out and typed in “Vaca santa!!! Que estas escribiendo?” She finally finishes and presses the speaker button so I can hear it. I have never heard such a string of Spanish in my life. She had written a 15 minute dissertation on
Biker Chick
I found this cute Biker Chick along the River Turia park. This is a wonderful park to ride in. I found a map of the Valencia bike lanes and it appears that Valencia has about 122 miles of biking lanes and pathways, most of which are separated from the traffic by barriers or sidewalks. Roger, a biking buddy of mine, would love this area to bike. some subject of which I still know not what and all I could do was laugh. I don’t think she got the humor. Then she reverted back to hand gestures…I won’t say any more about that.
Sunday, we took the bus to the Parkque Natural de la Albufera. The park is home to the largest lake in Spain and one of the most important wetland areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Located about 10 kilometers from Valencia, it is a Mediterranean ecosystem with dune beaches, forests, rice fields and a huge lake where you can enjoy boat trips. This is where paella was invented.
After touring the park, we spent the rest of the week getting the keys to our apartment and moving from our AirB&B. It is about a 2 to 3 kilometer bus ride so we don’t move much at a time. We started shopping for our daily supplies and bought a coffee maker. We have until August 31
st to move, so we are not in a hurry. We are now nesting…
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Patty L Gilbert
non-member comment
Paella
Hey Russ I love the posts. Once in Sevilla, I decided I wanted vegetarian Paella as I don't like seafood. We walked and walked until we found a place that actually served vegetarian Paella. It was amazingly delicious. Where I get these things into my head, I don't know, but there was certainly someone out there that understood. My trip to Spain was incredible. I wish for ya'll the same. Patty L Gilbert