So we get up at 7:30 to sit on a bus for about 4 hours. Fun. Actually, we did have a stop to buy some overpriced gas station food but more importantly were treated to a WINE TOUR of Torres Vineyards. The tour was a little silly (think holograms of monks drinking wine) and you could tell the people were giggling at us for coming in JANUARY to see all the shriveled vines and enjoy the cloudy weather, but it ended with a nice sample of - a rose? Yep. Officially the cheapest wine we could find
Vineyards in the Winter. Lame.
in the store with the exception of the sample-sized ones. You could tell they were PUMPED to have us there. ANYWAY it was still nice to have a break and they were perfectly nice so we continued on our bus ride into Valencia.
One thing i can say about those comunidades autonimonos (?) de Valencia and Catalunya. I have no idea why Spain has any interest in keeping the catalonians non-independent. (I do - but indulge my hyperbole for a second) They announced when we moved from Catalunya to Valencia and i could have honestly figured it out for myself. Crappy industrialized almost-cities reminiscent of parts of OHIO but (thankfully) with a slightly redeeming oceanic horizon give way to mountains and acres of orange farms. Valencia (the community) is really really pretty. I haven't seen much in Catalunya, with the exception of Barcelonaaaa (which is obviously gorgeous) and the immediate surrounding areas, that make it a really lovely place.
The city is pretty as well - i think. We got to the hotel in the evening with some vaugely cloudy weather - but we drove around to see a little of the city first.
This guy apparently designed the Tobin
It's like I'm back in New England!
They told us the
good places to go out, and left us to our own devices (with an actual DELICIOUS dinner in between - thank GOD for good food.) Blah blah bar blah blah Agua de Valencia = yum blah. first night, out of the way.
THEN we wake up to...rain. Valencia was NOT happy that we were there, and decided to rain the whole rest of the time. Fortunately the DOLPHIN SHOW at THE BIGGEST AQUARIUM IN EUROPE was under a roof! I officially LOVE aquariums, and this one was GREAT (besides the obvious freezing cold rain). blah penguins, sharks blah (pictures tell it better).
then we lunched, and the restaurant (Pizza Roma -little plug there-) was so wonderful I left my first european tip (like 2euro - but whatever). THEN we had a lovely walking tour in the rain through downtown Valencia - right before the busses drove off they informed us that they would NOT be coming back so it was either miss the tour or take some other form of transportation back. Apparently this was the plan all along. I'm glad i'm paying these people for this. OH WELL we got soggy and took a cab back and had some MORE delicious buffet-style dinner. Then I decided to navigate back to the same bar as the night before and so we ended up wandering around the lame part of Valencia until we gave up (THAT'S how good i am).
Morning we woke up and left to go back and had a meal so intense i'm going to write a whole new blog post on it. after some friends put up silly pictures that will help me illustrate it. i didn't bring my camera :(
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