We went to el Centro today (downtown Old City area) .. walking tour, lots of cathedrals, parks, people in Falla (fie-ya) costumes playing music and dancing traditional dances for the Sunday crowd. Lots of photos .. but no sun, so I´m not sure how the photos will come out .. just OK, I think.
Eva goes to work tomorrow so I´m heading back to Centro with her mom, then on my own until Eva gets out of work. Another day I´m going to take the subway and bus to the Science Center and the aquarium. Planning a whole day for that one.
I think I will just hang in Valencia for the week and not get to Madrid and try to meet up with Anny. Try to relax some too, although I wish it were warmer. I´m just beginning to get a feel for the lay of the city. A couple more days and I´ll be fine getting around alone.
It´s been raining here today a major downpour. I went downtown anyway and walked around, trying to see some sites and got pretty soaked. Thankfully I borrowed a rainjacket from Eva .. but still got pretty wet. Such a short time in Valencia I COULDN¨T spend it inside. Went to the central market and the bank (awesomely beautiful old buildings) and walked the beautiful little quaint streets. Got "lost" a couple times, but found myself again. The streets are set up alot like Boston, only smaller and more complicated. Really cool! Love it. Can´t imagine how much I´d love it if it were sunny! I´ll just have to come back sometime. LOL
She and I met up after she got out of work at 2pm, back to the apartment of her folks (where I´m staying) for dinner (spaghetti-like) and then a rest. I´d gotten pretty damp and a bit chilled. They have no clothes dryers so I have to hang things up and hope for the best!
If I wash socks (by hand) it takes a couple days to dry. I should wash my jeans sometime, but they probably won´t be ready for when I fly out. Ah well .. they´ll wash when I get home!
Got some good photos today, even through the rain. The buildings don´t look great, but other things are fine. Hoping for a halfway sunny day soon! And I want to get back to the Science Center and Aquarium .. a sunny day, they say, is best for that!
TUESDAY
Can´t believe I have only 2 full days left. Anny has been emailing me daily - she´s been in a couple places where there´s actually been sun .. but I´m sure not today. They´re (Leah) went to Madrid and the weather says there´s clouds or rain in the whole country. Today for me was overcast for most of the day but at least not downpour like most of yesterday. Just a bit of rain this evening.
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We went to the Exhibition of Ninots which are the paper mache figures that are used to make the floats for the Fallas. It´s a really really big deal here. Every barrio has it´s own float, a huge competition. Then they burn them all at night. There´s also Falleras (fie-yer-ahs) .. girls and little girls who are like the queens and princess of each neighborhood. Then one each is chosen to be Queen/Princess of the city for the year.
I took tons of photos because each sculpture is so different! Tonight I´m going with Eva again to the studio where they´re working on their parade aspect. Then back to the city tomorrow to see more sites. Huge amounts of ancient and classic architecture .. really cool stuff.
If it were sunny my photos would be amazing, but they´re ok as is.
WEDNESDAY
Montse and José took me for a drive down near the coast, outside the city. We passed huge and numerous fields of rice (without rice since it´s winter here) and orange groves. At a ´lake´, La Albufera, we stopped and took some photos. It´s really a huge puddle (they say) where water backs up .. there are boat rides during summer that are pushed about with poles (like Venice) because the like is so shallow. It´s thick water and the bottom is not visible. Many mallard ducks, egrets, seagulls (of course) and many (surprisingly) birds very similar to great blue herons. There are locks which separate the lake from the ocean. The water in the lake is used to help water the many many fields.
At the beach, Playa del Perello, we walked a bit as the sun tried to break through the clouds. The seaside town is bascially abandoned this time of year. The older houses are quaint, but the newer apartments, as in many resort towns, are just huge blocks of cement and windows without character. The sand is fine and the water is clear on the ocean side.
They dropped me off at the Center on their way home at the Quart Tower which is potmarked with history and holes from cannonballs. From there I walked through parts of the Old City which I hadn't explored, the Modern Museum of Art, the Public Library with ancient Roman column pieces in the garden, and other sites.
At night, Eva and I headed back into the Center with Pablo for a treat at Santa Catalina that's been around for two centuries. As every evening, we would go to her apartment for dinner with Juanjo. Pablo would go to bed and we'd watch "El homiguero", a talk/entertainment show.
THURSDAY
Montse and I headed in town where she bought me a beautiful traditional shawl of silk and hand embroidery. I wandered around until 11:45 when the Tribunal of the Waters happened in the Plaza of the Virgin. Later I went into the Museum of Ceramics housed in an amazing mansion.
I met Eva after woork and we went to her parent's apartment for a special Valencian dinner with the whole family. Paella, squid, langostino, strawberries, champagne. They are such a wonderful and generous family! It's been a memorable and wonderful week.
FRIDAY
I'm off to the airport early for a four hour delay once I reach Madrid. It was, finally, a beautiful sunny day, but I was stuck inside of course. It was 25 hours by the time I got home and into bed. Barely made the last flight out of Philadelphia .. everything had been cancelled and there were 30 of us on stand-by. I was the absolute last one to get a seat!
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