Valencia
A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the
future,
the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse
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| Ajuntamiento, Valencia |
It’s tricky when one is busy
visiting the city and friends to keep up on a blog. Things that happen come and go so quickly. Photos tell a lot, and I keep most of
my up-to-date photos for friends and family back home on my Facebook page. I try to caption most so there is some
understanding of the locales and happenings and inspiration for those who want
to, or should be, traveling!
(If you want to check my photo albums on Facebook please request
friendship and send a message that you saw this invitation on my Blog so I
won’t ignore your request: https://www.facebook.com/terrilynn.barden.dubreuil
)
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| El Rio |
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| El Rio |
The weather improved steadily in Spain until the final days
of sunshine and in the 60s F. I
walked miles and miles through the city and “El Rio” which is actually a park
now. (There was a huge flood in
the early 1900s, I believe, and after that they diverted the river and created
a park that now hugs Valencia.)
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| Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias |
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| Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias |
I walked around the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias which is absolutely beautiful. White graceful architecture contrasted with turquoise reflecting waters and the azure sky.
By the time I reached the Center one day (Plaza de la Virgin) I drank a
“zumo” (fresh orange juice) and ordered a Paella Valenciana with an Estrella
beer. It was about 18€ - it was quite good, but not the best. Still sitting in the sunshine was worth the extra cost.
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| Plaza de la Virgin * Paella Valenciana |
On Saturday we went to the BioParc in
Valencia. [ http://www.bioparcvalencia.es/en/ ] Windy and intermittent sun as we
passed over the high bridge entrance to the zoo. It is an open concept zoo with no barred cages. Some animal areas people enter and are
surrounded by the critters and others have natural barricades of water or rocks
and bushes. The first part of our
visit was when my new Nikon1 V2 camera lens decided to stop functioning. (Thank god for my iPhone. My second lens is back in France so for
the rest of this excursion through Europe, I will be relying basically on my
iPhone camera. Considering dumping
a high-end camera for the future because they are often so sensitive that
problems occur to easily – or maybe I’m just frustrated and pissed at my camera
right now - Seriously.)
After a light lunch at the BioParc
restaurant back deck, across from which animals were wandering, we continued
our walk. My most favorite part of
the day was the “Show”. In an open
amphitheater, where spectators sit right beside the areas where the animals
come out and could easily be touched by them, the trainers release various
species of birds and animals who run and swoop across the circle. Huge vultures or cranes fly right over
your head; wild boar and large porcupine come running right in front of
you. It gave me chills it was so
exciting! The most unusual
situation was when a jackal came out in the arena at the same time as two
vultures, vying for the same food.
They had been trained, but still, to see them together was amazing.
We finished the park with hippos, lions
(with a Plexiglas between us) and giraffes who could have touched us if they
wanted.
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| Horchata & Farton |
It was a great day, after
which we went out for horchata and farton (a light pastry). Horchata is a special slightly sweet
drink from the area made from tigernuts and tastes a bit like almond milk, and
originated during the Moorish occupation of Spain. It has a regulating council
to ensure the quality of the product and the villages where it can come from,
with the Denomination of Origin. The village of Alboraia where we went to
acquire it is well known for the quality of its horchata.
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| Falleras in traditional dress |
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| Community Fallas group |
Eva and I went with her Falleras group to a Fallas celebration at night. It was the presenting of the Falleras
Mayores by the Mayor (a woman), a light show and fireworks. The plaza in front of the Torres de
Serranos was packed. More info on
the Fallas or Falles [link.]
The last day they took me to the Mediterrannean Ocean and the town of with its Roman and Medieval town sitting on the hill above. A nice dinner at a seaside restaurant and home to get the boys. By 4 am the following morning I was on an early RyanAir flight to Italy. It was a wonderful week and an emotional goodbye to wonderful friends,
especially my dear Eva, and the special city of Valencia.
˜
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