Parks, Plazas, and Paella

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Today is David's last day in Spain as he leaves tomorrow morning for Madrid and then home to the States. Today is also our only day in Valencia as Tim and I leave tomorrow for a full day of travel to Seville, in the Southwest of Spain, so as exhausted as we all were from our travels and activities over the last week, we set out reasonably early to explore the town. We walked from our hotel along the Jardines del Turia, which are a series of gardens, parks, playgrounds, etc. that lie in the bed of what was once the city's river, which is evident by the myriad of bridges that cross over it into the historic center of town. From the Jardines del Turia we turned in towards the historic center and made our way to Valencia's Romanesque-Gothic-baroque-Renaissance (yes apparently it is all of those things) Cathedral. The Cathedral is home to the Capilla del Santo Caliz, a chapel containing what they say is the Holy Grail, we weren't sure we bought it. Another interesting highlight of the Cathedral is in the back where there is an alter to the Virgin Mary, adorned with flowers and thank-you cards. The ritual is that if a pregnant woman goes to the Cathedral a few weeks before their baby's birth and walks around the Cathedral 9 times to commemorate the 9 months that Mary carried Jesus and pray to the Virgin Mary for an easy delivery and a healthy baby that it will happen. This explained the pregnant women doing laps, I thought maybe they were trying to induce early labor and the Cathedral was the only cool place to go and do so.

After touring the Cathedral we ducked into an Irish pub oddly enough for an early lunch, we hadn't had breakfast this morning so come midday we were pretty famished, even though in Spain you don't usually eat lunch until 2 or 3.

After lunch we got a bit lost in the narrow winding streets of the Barrio del Carmen, a neighborhood in the historical center, before finding the central market. This market was nothing compared to the market in Barcelona, however, this could have been due to the fact that most of the stalls were closed or were closing up for afternoon siestas. We didn't see as much evidence of siestas in Barcelona or elsewhere in Europe, but here in Valencia all of the shops seemed to close up between 2:00 and 5:00 or so. From the market we made our way to the Placa de Ayuntamiento a beautiful plaza surrounded by historic buildings such as the Ayuntamienta de Valencia and the Correos. From this plaza we made our way to the Plaza de Toros de Valencia, home to Valencia's bull ring before heading back to the hotel for a rest.

We headed back out from the hotel around 5:30 or so in the evening to explore the Jardines del Turia in the other direction as we made our way to the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a complex of amazing architectural buildings housing various museums surrounding by a series of enticing reflection pools. The afternoon sun however was barreling down on us so we made our way back to a cafe near the hotel for a refreshment and then went back to the hotel to cool off before dinner.

Tim's Dad had contacted a colleague of his, Robert Callahan, who lives in Valencia to let him know that we would be in the area and see if he might be able to meet up with us. Robert was kind enough to meet us at the hotel around 8 o'clock to take us down to the beach for some paella, although he informed us that true Valencians never have paella for dinner, they have it for lunch in the afternoon. Lunch or dinner, it was delicious. Although I must say both Tim and especially David looked relieved when he asked if we just wanted the traditional chicken paella, although true Valencian paella usually also has rabbit and snails. Before our paella we enjoyed a few tapas and some beer/wine. It was a gorgeous atmosphere, right on the boardwalk along the beach, and with the ocean breeze the temperature was perfect.

After dinner Robert dropped us back off at our hotel where we all worked on packing up for the morning and then went to bed. We will miss David when he leaves tomorrow and were extremely grateful for his company. It was nice to see someone from home as we have been traveling so long just the two of us.