Spain 2015: Valencia, Valencia, Valencia

"Heat wave hot" day in Valencia

Valencia, Valencia, Valencia. Of all the cities I had visited in Spain, I probably spent the least amount of time exploring Valencia. It bore the brunt of my respiratory infection, and as a result, I spent most of my stay getting much needed rest.

With that said, my visit was in no way a loss. I enjoyed the most mundane of things, beginning with the train ride from Granada to Valencia.

Day 1

Cheapo Breakfast

For a person who was supposed to be on vacation, I woke up at the crack of dawn to get ready for Valencia, the next leg of my tour in Spain. I gathered my things and made my way to the front desk, where I was checked out of the hostel by a Spanish-speaking British guy. This struck me as odd for some reason, but it shouldn't have given that even I spoke Spanish, and I am not Spanish either. Anyway...

I took a bus from the intersection of Gran Via de Colon and Calle Reyes Catolicos that took me to the top of the street for the train station. I then wheeled my luggage noisily to the station only to find out that I was too early for my bus to Antequera-Sta Ana. Hahaha! I ended up re-tracing my steps all the way to El Tostadero, where I had breakfast for a mere 1.90 euro! I got a MASSIVE piece of toast with tomato, some fruit, and coffee. It was a dream!

When it was finally fashionably early, I made my way back to the train station and was soon on the bus bound for Antequera-Sta Ana, where I was catching my train to Joaquin Sorolla. The drive there passed without incident, but I had a lovely view of the Spanish countryside again, which was a definite plus.

Antequera - waiting for the train to Valencia

On the four-hour train ride from Antequerra-Sta Ana to Joaquin Sorolla, I finally had some time to finish Courtney Maum's "I'm having so much fun here without you". It is a book about a husband who cheats on his wife and must deal with the consequences of his actions... aka your typical millenial read. Yes, it wasn't the most fun of reads, but it definitely passed the time quite quickly.

Apart from reading, I spent a lot of the train ride staring at my favourite countryside, which was full of sunflowers of all things. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the fields upon fields of flowers, so you will just have to trust me when I say that it was a sight to behold.

My single room for three nights

After the four-hour journey, I finally arrived in Valencia and went straight for this comfortable bed...

Just kidding. What really happened was this: I arrived at Joaquin Sorolla and got directions to the metro at the station. I then walked outside to begin my commute and was greeted by the heat wave that everyone had been talking about: it was sweltering hot, and I was fully dressed in a sweater, jeans, and closed toe shoes. I couldn't do anything about it at the time, so I just continued my roundabout way of getting to the metro and soon arrived at my host's area. I found my way to her building using CityMaps2Go, a map app that works offline provided that you download the requisite maps ahead of time.

When I buzzed in and was waiting for the elevator, I realized that she hadn't give me her floor, and I thus had to do some basic math to figure it out. I eventually found the unit and met my host Belen (who I remember was playing Michael Buble in the living room) and her guest Debbie, who was studying Spanish in Valencia for the week. Once Belen had given me a brief tour of her place, I THEN went straight for the comfortable bed you see above. I took a short break and afterwards made my way to El Cortes Ingles to buy a couple of things for my camera: I bought the 220V cord I had been meaning to buy in Ireland and the often-hated-upon selfie stick.

I went back to the apartment after my little shopping trip and ran into Debbie, who invited me to join her and her friend for dinner. I graciously agreed, and we travelled to the old city where we met up with Debbie's friend Sam and his meet-up group. Like me, they were in town for the annual La Tomatina festival. We went to a restaurant whose name escapes me and had some tapas: I had yummy gazpacho and spicy chorizo among other things while we chatted away about our plans for the festival.

It was a great evening overall. I had dinner with a table full of strangers in a country both foreign and familiar to me, and it was a blast. To many more spontaneous nights in España!