DAY 8 – Thursday 24 June
(hour 6 of our train ride)
So far, the trip has been smooth and unexciting today. This morning we were touched by the kindness of the Andalucians when an old man tried to help us out when were trying to walk to the train station with our 35lb backpacks. At the train station, the snows had cafe con leche and shared a croissant together while waiting for the train's departure. For lunch, we made sandwiches with the bread, cheese and serrano ham we bought at the supermarket the day before – Delish! And, here we are!! :D
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After the train ride, we needed to stretch our legs, so we decided to walk over to our hostel--Center Valencia. We loved the location of the hostel (<3) but we did not like the actual hostel (if that makes sense). To explain: there wasn't a very communal feel, the night guard was pretty rude, and public spaces got their lights turned off and closed down by 1am.
Our first order of business was to visit the Museo de Bella Artes, a free museum which showcases Early Renaissance altar pieces and included later artists such as Velazquez and Ribera. On our way over, we had a slight pit stop for soft-serve ice cream that was only 1 euro for a pequeno that equated a grande! After the museum, we began our walking tour courtesy of Lonely Planet--note it was already 8pm when we started, so our tour lasted until after dark. As we were walking, we passed by a shop named 'Blanco' which had a big sign which said "Todo de Descuentos 50%" and translated to us as "Time to Shop!" After the snows purchased some lovely clothes, it was time to integrate our first tapas meal of the night at "Sagardi", a Basque pintxo (pronounced pincho) bar. A lovely glass of tinto de verano was enjoyed alongside tapas like crab with mozzarella, smoked salmon with cream cheese, mushroom and iberico ham, and an olive salad with tuna--all of these dishes were served atop a small slice of baguette.
Our walking tour took us through different plazas, government buildings, and a torre (a tower built in the 16th century which acted as the passing point into the city of Valencia). Since another downfall of the hostel was bad internet connection, we had to venture out to McDonald's to call our parents and a snow's significant other. This is when we discovered the McD's McCafe is actually good in Europe and better than some cafes in Spain. Finally, at 11:45pm, it was time to continue our tapas crawl. We ended up at a tapas bar in Plaza de la Reina which served big, yet affordable, 'raciones' of tapas; we ordered a racion de croquettes and a pincho de tortilla.
*A reason to speak Spanish in Spain: You won't get ripped off by waiters in restaurants late at night. Explanation: A non-Spanish speaking family of four was desparate to find food before all of the kitchens closed. They stopped at the restaurant we were at and tried to ask for a tapas menu (which is cheaper and easily capable of feeding four), but the waiter said they didn't have one even though he had just waited on us. In the end, he forced them to order a 'Menu del Dia' which cost 20 euros per person! :(
This night was the celebration of 'Dia de San Juan'--the longest day of the year--and we were planning on going out to the beach to join the celebration. However, the snows were tired from traveling more than 9 hours that day and were never really given proper directions to the festivities. (Later in Barcelona, we heard that we missed out on quite a party which included bon fires all along the beach and people raising their glasses in celebration of the longest day of the year.)
DAY 9 – Friday 25 June
Our day started at 2pm which is when we finally woke up, both snow's slept past the 10:30am alarm. By 2:30pm, we were at the beach enjoying the clean, soft sand and the blue Mediterranean water. A couple of hours later, it was time for lunch and we knew what we wanted to try: arroz negro--squid ink rice paella. We found a place along the boardwalk which was still open and situated close to the grand prix track where a race was in progress while we enjoyed our meal.
*Note: When visiting Spanish beaches, be ready to encounter many topless women since that is a part of their beach culture.
After cleaning up at the hostel, shopping was calling our names once again. Once our shopping itch was satiated, then we headed south on a quest to see La Ciudad de las Ciencias y Artes. We got to the set of buildings at a little past dusk (10pm) and had the chance to experience its architecture emphasized by the glimmering spot lights which surround the perimeter of the complex. To get home, we walked along what used to be a river bed and has been turned into a long stretch of park land. It took us about 30 minutes to make it back to the hostel, and by then, it was dinner time. We decided to have Doner Kebab sandwiches from the plaza next door and sat in Plaza de la Virgen to watch locals play 'futball', rollerblade, and the lovers sitting along the church steps.
We had the fullest intention to experience the Valencian night life we had heard so much about, but after calling home at 3am, there was no more energy left to go out especially since our bus to Barcelona was leaving at 8 the next morning :(
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