Mucho Valencia
February 21, 2016
For our final “Adventures in Valencia” we go to the beach, find a ye olden tower, explore the city botanic gardens, visit the future, and meet a lot of cats. These events are broken up over a few weeks, but are some of my favourite things that we did in Valencia.
The BEACH! need I say more? Well I will. Valencia has a huge beautiful beach that’s super easy to get to on train/bus. We went on a warm day and stuck our feet in. The water was a bit too cold to jump into, but beautiful all the same. You can basically walk forever along this beach. It’s lined with many restaurants and hotels/vacation condos.
(click here for the panorama if the embedded one doesn’t work, or to see it full screen)
OLD STUFF! There are these cool olden towers along the city that used to be part of a larger wall that no longer exists. They were on my list of things to visit, but we stumbled upon them while making our way to the botanical gardens. I particularly enjoyed the cannonball marks along the sides.
GARDENS! many many parks/gardens in the city. I particularly enjoyed the cities botanical gardens. It’s part of the university and full of educational information and little greenhouses to go into. It’s mostly set up like a Victorian style garden (think Halifax’s Public Gardens but bigger) and includes greenhouses. The gardens are also a haven for the feral cats of Valencia! friendly adorable wild cats everywhere with many cat lady gardeners to take care of them. If you sit on a bench long enough a cat will end up on your lap. Stuff dreams are made of.
That brings me to all the CATS!
COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE! I love all the cafes around and I love how cheap a cup of coffee is! 1.30 Euros for cafe con leche! and so many delicious pastries.
More PARKS + Science. Running through the middle of the city is a dried up river bed that they made into a giant park full of incredible modern architecture and museums. It felt like we went to the future. If anyone has seen the movie Tomorrowland many of the outdoor shots were set here. A complete contrast from the rest of the city and one of the coolest collections of buildings I’ve ever seen. I felt like I was in Caprica City before the cylons attacked… yes, I’m watching Battlestar right now.
The Market continues to be a joy to go to all the time. Definitely one of the things we’ll miss about Valencia and specifically our neighbourhood.
We’ve had such a pleasant time in Valencia. I’m definitely going to miss this home. I’m already sad about leaving despite the cool places we are headed to. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Spain and heading to France. Just as we are leaving Spain we’ve learned enough Spanish to order lunch. At least we have a head start with french! “viva pomplemouse!”
~B~