Valencia

A little late, but I wanted to write about my trip to Valencia, a beautiful, beachy city on the east coast of Spain (apparently beachy isn't a word? Too bad). With a semester of Andalusian weather under my belt, I had my notions about what a difference it would be living in Madrid. I thought, "One more trip to the beach!" before it gets too cold. Boy, was I wrong because it still gets to be about 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit here. Well anyway, I headed to Valencia with my friend, Erin, harboring excitement and the melancholy feeling that comes with the end of summertime.

A 4 hour bus ride away from Madrid, Valencia has everything I want in a city. Chaotic urban buzz, historic architectural beauty and most importantly, a flawless shoreline. We had some amazingly, delicious horchata (which originated in the city), giving it a bunch more positive points in my book. I could drink that stuff forever. Valencia is also famous for their paella valenciana and I can vouch for that. It consists of vegetables, white beans and meat (typically rabbit). To die for.

Paella Valenciana

The beach was beautiful, albeit a bit windy. But I didn't care. The water was calm and starting to get a bit chilly for my liking but I had to say that I swam in the Balearic Sea! Wanting to be a bit more cultured, we decided to head to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (The City of Arts and Sciences), an arts and sciences complex designed by a world renowned Valencian architect, Santiago Calatrava. We only really had time to explore one of the things to see at CAC so we decided on the aquarium and it was a great decision. I love aquariums to begin with but this place... wow. There are different buildings based on environment (Mediterranean, Tropical, Arctic, etc.) I'm terrified of sharks but part the exhibit was in a tunnel under the aquarium. Also, jellyfish make me squirm but they had a species of neon glowing jellyfish. It was just so awesome.

Playa de las Arenas

Meeting people is always a fun part of traveling. We met a lot of German people, some Australians and a Brit. The British guy, whose name I don't remember, told me how he visited New York after I mentioned I was from there. I asked if he enjoyed the city and surprisingly, he said no! He ditched the city for an upstate New York getaway. I thought that it was going to be a long shot but I asked him which town...it was New Paltz! I told him how I went to college there and how it's one of my favorite places in the world. He said he absolutely loved it. I was beaming with pride. As if I discovered the place or something...

Anyway, here are a few pictures. Highlights, if you will. Enjoy :)

The statue of Neptune in the Plaza de la Virgen

A typical Spanish breakfast: Coffee (first and foremost), una tostada con jamón y tomate (toast with ham and tomato) and churros con chocolate (churros with chocolate to dip them in). Please try not to drool on your keyboard.

Door of a church

La Lonja de Mercaderes (Commodity Exchange Building): one of the most emblematic buildings from the Valencian civil gothic style, it was used for commercial transactions and as a municipal bank.

That's me in front of the Palacio de la Exposición in Plaza del Carmen

Moto

Gorgeous ceiling of the Mercado Central (Central Market) in the city of Valencia

Just a small sample of the amazing street art in Valencia

A street leading to Plaza de la Virgen