Friday, September 24, Valencia

So this weekend we took a trip to Valencia. I was the one who initiated it and planned it including getting people together in a group, finding the buses to take, and hotels for both the first and second night. Parts of it were really hard to plan because we had 6 people that changed to 7 at the last minute, and we kept going back and forth between either one or two days and almost the whole group would decide and then someone would change it and turn it all around.

But it all worked out and was a wonderful trip! I learned a lot, especially at the very beginning. I’ve never really had to think about it much before because most of my travels have been with my parents and they just take care of absolutely everything and I just go along with it. This time I ended up in charge and responsible for everything without realizing it the night before. Some very important things that I learned for next time:

1. write down the names of the hotels

2. write down the confirmation numbers

3. write down the phone numbers of the hotels

4. write down the addresses of the hotels

5. look up how to get to the hotels before we get there

However, Audrey was awesome and bought a map and got us there on the bus. The first hotel was Abba Acetón. It was a 4 star hotel that is usually a lot more expensive but we got 2 triples for a lot cheaper because they had a special to try and fill their rooms. It was a nice hotel and a good location for the first day being close to the beach and City of Arts and Sciences.

After getting there we changed into our swimsuits and headed out to the beach for paella. Valencia is famous for its paella and it was something we all agreed we could splurge on to have great authentic paella. The guide books told us that all the best places were along one part of the beach, so that’s where we went. La Pepica was recommended in 4 or 5 different sources and a favorite of Hemmingway so when we saw it decided to go there.

Paella is a rice dish with saffron and a mix of different meats vegetables and seafood cooked in it. Good paella should be made and cooked individually for each table and take 30-40 minutes to make. For us they made one huge mixed paella that we all shared. It was brought to the table in the same flat dish it was cooked in and was absolutely delicious. There was chicken, vegetables, and a few legumes along with mussels, shrimp and little lobsters. The final price was less than we were expecting too at about 13 euros a person.

Post 3:30 lunch we headed out to the beach. The sun was shining and warm, the sand was fine and not too hot, and the ocean was blue with gentle crashing waves that were fun to watch. We set up our towels and relaxing in the sun hanging out and enjoying what felt like summer weather. Near the end about half our group jumped in the ocean for a little bit and then we headed out as it started to cool down. We stopped for gelato at the edge of the beach before our walk back and it was delicious.

We stopped and bought two bottles of wine on the way back to the hotel and then took showers and hung out for a while. Later we headed out and walked the few blocks to the City of Arts and Sciences. It is a combination off different museums, but is most well known for its architecture. Multiple people told me that it is the number one thing we have to go to while we are there. It has an aquarium that is the larges in Europe with 110,000 square meters and 42 million liters of water. About the equivalent to 18 olympic sized swimming pools I think. It closed much earlier than when we got there, but we mostly went to look at the outsides of the buildings and take pictures.

The City of Arts and Sciences

There were a few restaurants around there but they all seemed quite fancy and too expensive for us so we headed back to a puperia (octopus) we had passed earlier and enjoyed tapas and sangria de cava which was extremely delicious and a mix of fanta lemon, champagne, a splash of another alcohol, fruits and some sugar. Out waiter was a lot of fun asking if we were from Holland or Australia and then after finding out that we were Americans getting excited because according to him we have the best president in the world. Another fun night and we headed back to the hotel.