Our Casa de Valencia

We are in Spain now! After like 30 hours of travel from Australia we made it to Valencia! My initial impression was “shit it’s cold” at a brisk +15 degrees I realized I could never return home to Canada for I am too used to the warm temperature good life. It’s been a little over a week now and I am now used to this “cool” weather, highs of 20 lows of 10. It’s actually really pleasant. I can wear my favourite cardigans again!

So far Valencia has been great. It’s an incredibly clean city and the people are kind and extremely patient. Now that we’ve been in Valencia for a bit we’ve had some adventures and some highlights to share.

#1. Our apartment:

Our Airbnb host left us this yummy treat!

Side Note: We’ve been having an incredibly positive experience with Airbnb. I highly recommend it! I never want to use conventional methods to rent or use a regular hotel again.

The view from the front of our apartment off the balcony.

Our apartment is basically one room with beautifully maintained hardwood floors, a small kitchen with all the accessories you could possibly need, and a sweet balcony for warmer days.

We have a cat family that lives in behind our apartment on this roof. They are the main source of my entertainment here.

The view from our back window. Look at all that precarious laundry drying!

#2. Our neighbourhood:

We have a large fresh market in our neighbourhood open daily!

We are staying in the Russafa neighbourhood. It’s an older part of the city, so it has a lot of character. The little market near our place has been one of our favourite things. Each vendor has been super helpful and nice about the language barrier. Plus all the food is super delicious and fresh AND cheap! Our market is celebrating its 700th year! How does time even work in Europe?

There is literally a coffee shop on every corner and restaurants and shops dotted around the tiny streets.

#3. The History: so much history everywhere.

This is the Plaza de Toros. While I don’t agree with the tradition of bull fighting, I do admire the building. It’s smelly though FYI.

This is the central market of Valencia. It’s a huge and beautiful building built in the 1910’s. One of the oldest market buildings in Europe that’s still standing and used for its original purpose. It’s mainly all fresh foods, but there is a very popular bar in the middle!

A detail of one of the Cathedrals we went to.

This is the Cathedral of Valencia. It holds many incredible and interesting holy artefacts including my personal favourite, a mummified Saint’s arm! The creepy mummy arm of the martyr St. Vincent is on display for prayer? or to keep an eye on it in case it becomes creepy zombie arm!

(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)

Oh yeah, the Cathedral also has the Holy Grail… WHAAAAAT! Me and Indiana Jones knows it’s a fake though.

Outside the Cathedral in the Placa de la Verge.

Much classy black and white photo. So many tiny walkways!

#4. The Atmosphere: Everything is so relaxed. It feels like people really enjoy their lives here. People who are working are chatting with friends, laughing, and smiling. Every coffee shop patio is nearly full of patrons enjoying an afternoon cafe con leche and some baked treat. Plus every day around 2pm all the shops close for siesta. It’s just delightfully relaxed. Valencia definitely understands the Easy Living Lifestyle™.

Dem orange trees are on basically every street full of oranges… Valencian oranges. We picked one to check out their deal, but we read they are not good for eating and only stupid tourists pick them.

I decided to get my hair dyed in Valencia. I guess I was feeling confident in my Spanish, but I was quickly crushed realizing the 10 food related words I know wouldn’t help me in this situation. Me: “hablas dos cervasez por favor?” The hairdressers were really kind and lovely. At one point several Spanish women gathered around me to try and ask if I wanted highlights. Me: “no highlitos por favor!” I’m embarrassing and should not be aloud to travel. Don’t worry I told everyone I’m from Canada.

We got this little moka pot espresso maker in our apartment. I’ve never used one before and as a person who enjoys a strong cup of coffee I’ve really enjoyed the one here. Do recommend!

(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)

We will be doing more local adventuring this weekend and next weekend we are taking a short trip more south to Seville and Granada! Dats right folks we are going to explore the famed Alhambra palace, the Alcazar castle, and hopefully see flamenco dancing!

~B~

Map of Valencia.

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