June 23 – 30, 2014
VALENCIA
Our host
in Valencia
has arranged for us to pick up our keys from the building concierge, who leaves
for his lunch break at 2pm. We have a very short window of time from our bus
arrival to find the metro and make it to the apartment in time, cut even
shorter when our bus turns up 45 minutes late. We make a dash through the hot
streets with our packs, Bob’s trying to navigate with his map, a wrong turn or
two, then we’re trotting up to the building where the concierge is standing at
the door looking for us. Come on! We’ve made it! He gives us a quick
introduction and the keys, and he’s off! The place is very
nice, at the top floor, all clean and modern and new, with a lovely, large
terrace and view to the mountains beyond the city.
We catch
a bus to check out the beach. It’s gorgeous, of course. What is interesting,
though, is the neighborhood around the beach. Instead of high-rise hotels or
apartments or condos, it’s a sort-of run down collection of two-story homes,
possible 1920’s or 30’s era, built of stucco and tile. It seems likely that there is a historical
district protected from demolition, much like South
Beach, Miami. It gives the beach a quiet, old
fashioned look. There’s a long promenade, and at intervals along it there are
buildings for restaurants, so that all the restaurants look the same. It does
give the beach a simplified, uncluttered look that does not distract from the
gorgeous view of the sand and sea. Again, we find the beach nearly deserted.
The restaurants are pretty quiet as well, so we have no trouble finding a table
outside with a perfect view of the water, for a dish of traditional paella. Mmm
Mmm!
There is
a huge complex called the City of Arts and
Science in Valencia, much
bigger than the one in Granada,
and incorporating an opera house and performing arts center, IMAX, aquarium and
arboretum, all in a setting of fantastic architecture and water pools. We walk
through the city for a visit.
The city
itself is not especially scenic, a nice enough, modern metropolis, seemingly
prosperous and busy, but no great sites or historical district really stand
out. It is interesting to see the inclusion of Valencian as an official
language along with Spanish. All the street signs, advertising and even product
labels include both. The Valencian is substantially different, perhaps closer
to Portuguese, with a ‘sh’ sound in the words where the Castilian has the
“th” After studying Latin American
Spanish, the Castilian Spanish still sounds a little awkward and lumpy to me
with the lispy emphasis on the s.
The City
of Arts and
Science is dramatic, filling acres covered with turquoise pools and buildings
rising up in organic shapes evoking whales and waves and sails. The surfaces
are covered with a mosaic of glossy white porcelain tiles. You can rent kayaks
at the pools, but a more popular activity is the giant plastic hamster balls,
“used by NASA to train astronauts for zero gravity” Right. People climb in,
then the ball is inflated with a hot hairdryer, and they are sent out onto the
water to roll and fumble around in the last person’s sweat. No thank you.
We arrive
just in time to see and IMAX movie on how people were mummified in ancient Egypt,
then head underground to the aquarium. Some of the fish tanks are gigantic,
with hundreds of fish species, including sharks and beluga whales. It’s very
pleasant to be out of the hot sun, wandering through the cool, dark exhibits.
We emerge to go to the stadium for the dolphin show, which is sort of cheesy,
with lots of audience participation gimmicks. The grounds are very nice, with
boardwalks winding through habitats for waterbirds and sea lions. At the end of
the day, we’re quite exhausted, and we’ve barely seen half of the City’s
offerings.
We buy a
glass of horchata from a street vendor. It’s similar to what you’d find in Mexico, but
instead of being a rice drink, the Valencian version is made with a local tiger
nut, whatever that is. It has a nice sort of wheaty flavor.
The city
does have a historic district, aka the place with the tourists. There’s a
remnant of the city gates with a stone tower that offers nice views. We lunch
on in-season local cherries from a little boutique grocery. One waits in line,
then points to one’s desired produce on the shelves, and the produce concierge
packages them for you. The cherries are unbelievably juicy and good. The rest
of the neighborhood has bistros full of tourists, street artists doing
caricatures and souvenir shops. It’s not nearly as crowded as some of the other
major cities, so it’s pleasant in a way, but not our favorite place.
There
used to be a river running through Valencia, but it has been
“diverted”, and the riverbed is now a very nice green
space wrapping around the city. As we walk along a shady path, we see soccer
fields, bike paths, basketball courts, glades of trees, fountains and open
lawns. People are out walking dogs or children, some lively soccer games are going
on, summer camps for kids on outings, one field is taken over for water fights
for a pack of overexcited youngsters. At one point, there is a gigantic statue
of a Don Quixote knight, reclining on the ground, acting as a great, sprawling
playground. People are climbing up the legs and sliding down the cape, hiding
in the fingers, catching shade under the sword. It’s a very unusual sight.
We see mounted policemen riding through the
park on gorgeous white Andalucían horses. Nice job.
After a
couple hours, we arrive at the City of Arts
and Science once more, and this time we go into the Science building, a
gleaming white atrium with several floors of exhibitions. We have satellites
and sports science, arctic exploration, climate change, a forest of chromosomes
and a three-story DNA double helix. It makes for an interesting afternoon.
But, as
we come to the end of June, it’s starting to become hot, with blinding
sun and ninety degree days, July and August loom before us. Time to get out of Spain!
June 30
MADRID
We take a
high speed train from Valencia
to Madrid, a
fast and comfortable ride. We did not expect the airport-style security check
getting onto the train, though. My pack went through the scanner, and the guard
had me pull it aside, asking if it was a knife that I had. I dug through and
took out our nice chef’s knife that we had purchased in Sophia last year to
save us from the trauma of using horrible wobbly dollar-store cutlery in our
apartments. “No, you cannot take this,” he said, curtly confiscating it and
chucking it into a bin. Done. Alas.
We have a
hard time finding our little hotel. We know it’s on the block near the train
station, just across from the Prado, but we don’t see it. It’s very common for
hotels or hostels to occupy just one floor of a five or six story building.
Finally we check for our hotel name at the row of doorbells at one address, and
see our destination. We ring in, and make our way to the fourth floor. We have
a very simple room, but it’s clean and quiet and very convenient for our overnight stop. The neighborhood behind us is full of traditional
cafes and bistros, perfect for our dinner of house-specialty oxtail stew.
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