After a good couple of weeks to start off in September, we wrapped up the portion of our trip in Spain. The stops included Barcelona, Moncofa, Valencia, and a flight out of Madrid. This post details our time in Valencia.
Valencia:
Outside the Plaza de Toros
How about that train ride in? After the long awaited arrival, we eased our way into the third largest city in Spain. With a few alterations to the trip itinerary, we decided to leave Moncofa early in order to squeeze in another city before Jesse left. We also missed hearing english voices. I personally dislike not being to have small talk at a grocery store- standing there in silence isn’t my thing.
Well my dream of sporadic english conversations quickly faded. Valencia seemed to be more off the map for native english travelers than my hopes of another Barcelona. When we checked into the hostel (Purple Nest Hostel), there wasn’t anyone else there besides the typical attendees; Germans, who tend to travel in packs but are kind enough for conversation, and the French, who could care less for conversation. Having Jesse around though made up for the lack of english.
Leaving the spacious three bedroom apartment, we had to adapt to a shared space once again. There was already one bag in the eight-bed dorm room and it took up half the space. Skinny jeans, a few black shirts, some stale leftover donuts (taste-test) and size 9 skater shoes let us know who was staying with us. With the day to unwind, we left the hostel and explored.
The city is beautiful. We were in the center surrounded by picturesque spanish architecture and old women hanging clothes out the windows. There were cathedrals centuries old next to newly renovated gelato shops. It was essentially La Ramblas on a smaller scale. And just like Barcelona was, every block had at least one building with construction work going on.
As the next few days went by, we found a routine to our daily order.
- Toast and fruit for breakfast
- Explore the city
- Come back and put the running shoes on
- Jog and workout at the various stations around the old river bed
- Dinner, usually spaghetti y pan
- Explore some more
- Bed.
The running trails in the old river bed
Within those few days, a couple of other notable events occurred.
- After a night out at the beach clubs, I’m that guy and left early in a taxi as the other two wanted to keep the party going. The details beyond this point are of Jesse and Jay’s account, but they didn’t arrive until sunrise. Apparently they wandered aimlessly on their attempt to make it back. Jay seemed to be a magnet for the ladies selling themselves and made a couple of Facebook-official-friends along the way. Eventually, Jesse turned on his cellular data to figure out where they were at and they made it. I’m still curious about the cost of his cell phone bill.
- Once Jesse left to Madrid to catch his flight back to the states, Jay and I still had another night in Valencia until our departure. With time to kill, we ventured out to the market with eight euros and bought a sparkling red España soccer ball. Next, being professional athletes, we needed green space. The city university was only a couple kilometers away and there had to be a soccer field there. With night falling, we found the stadium with the gates open and concluded this was our invitation. After nearly thirty minutes of stunning passes and breath-taking goals, we thought we might be locked in given our entry. We were locked in. Long story short, a lady lectured us in spanish while Jay nodded and I said “si” a lot and we were escorted out. I guess if the stadium lights are off, it’s closed. Oh.
We got creative with our skills
And did hand stands
greater than levi 