Or as the Spanish say “mintió.” I know I said I was going to lay on the beach this entire week in Valencia but the day was going to be colder (77 degrees is cold for Europe given the recent heat wave), partly cloudy, and a 20% chance of rain. So without much thought put into it, I decided to take myself to the city center which is 2.5km away from my AirBnB. And no, I didn’t walk there myself. I’m crazy, but not that crazy. I braved public transportation and took the tramvia there all on my own. I only needed a little assistance from a kind man at the station to buy the right ticket (I wasn’t sure how the zones work here) and he even reminded me that I needed to validate my ticket or face a 100€ fine. I’m most thankful to him and all the other kind strangers who have helped me out on this journey.
I’m really glad I went into the city center. I was able to pick up my postcard to send home and also purchase a middle-school level book to help me learn the nuances of Spanish grammar (still the hardest part about speaking Spanish IMHO). But WOW, the city center is very Spanish Colonial and you could happily get lost in there.
My favorite part about today’s field trip (besides having no plan, of course) was the Plaza Virgen. It is so beautiful and there’s even a marble floor. The Spanish are fancy y’all! I could not be more impressed with this plaza and the cathedral that “adorns” it.
In search of lunch, and disappointed that lunch isn’t served until 12p, I walked around and knew that if I could make it back to Plaza Virgen, I would make it back to my AirBnB OK. Along the way, I found the Central Market which is made up of a lot of vendors gathered under one roof selling their goods. I was quite sad I didn’t bring more money to buy some food to take back for dinner but I had to save my change for the return trip home.
At that point, I did what any other person would do. I found a nice restaurant that took credit cards and had my first full tapas meal: mushrooms with green (non spicy) peppers, potato omelette (my favorite of all the tapas!) and gazpacho. Accompanied by a tinto verano (it’s a Spanish thing) and I was stuffed. I slowly made my way back to the tramvia and proceeded to enjoy a nice afternoon siesta. I’m so glad my plans put me back in Spain. I would move here. Wonder how hard it would be for Lola to learn Spanish since she’s so old 😉
There She Goes... 