 |
| The canyon-like surroundings |
Today, it was time to begin our “day-trip” out of Valencia
with the tour company Do-Valencia. I hoped this tour would give us a chance
to see a different aspect of the region of Valencia, and that it would be something a little off the beaten track. We
waited outside the hostel bright and early, and after some confusion about where our hostel was located (join the club), we were finally picked up by our
French-Canadian expat guide Mike (but really his name was Michele) and our
driver, Diego. We were introduced to the two other girls who would be in our
group that day, Yasmin & Ana from Cologne, Germany. We then drove about an hour
out of the city, past a lot of interesting Grand-Canyon reminiscent landscape, until
we arrived to our first stop. We walked about 10 minutes down a trail to a
waterfall known as the Bridal Veil. Several locals were already there for the
afternoon swimming in the pools at the bottom, and so we joined them! There was
a natural “water slide”, and at one point we braved the super slippery rocks to
take a photo standing underneath the falls. After a refreshing swim, our group headed
off to the next destination!
 |
| Bridal Veil Waterfalls |
 |
| Swimming and Exploring |
We arrived next at the Fuente
de Los Baños, in the pueblo of
Montanejos. This place is home to natural hot springs that have minerals in
them that rejuvenate and cleanse the skin. In the 13th century, an
Arabic King named Abu-Ceit constructed the bathing springs on this site for his
favorite wives so that they could “forever maintain their youth and beauty”
from the nutrients in the waters. Some of the original stone structures still remain,
so while it’s a beautiful place to visit and swim in, the history surrounding
it is pretty cool too. Our group sat down for some lunch on a patio overlooking
the springs, and we enjoyed some bocadillos.
Then, we got into the water! Since it’s
called “hot springs”, I figured it would be warm, but the water was actually
pretty chilly. Considering it is late summer in Valencia though, the water felt
extremely refreshing. We started swimming around the clear waters and looking
at the fish, and then we swam inside a little cave. It was so much fun, just
having the chance to swim around and explore, I love things like that! After
that, we got to see a hidden cove with a waterfall, and then we had the chance
to do some cliff-diving, but no one in our group was brave enough to do it
except Diego (not even Greaham!). Once we had our fill of swimming in this
paradise location, we took the van to the central plaza of the pueblo.
 |
| Some Tapas and Sangria! |
We went into a local restaurant owned by a very personable
guy named Sebastian, and quickly sat down and started eating and drinking. Mike
ordered us all a delicious mix of tapas (Spanish style appetizers) and some
sangria. Before we knew it, the drinks were flowing all around and there was a
lot more conversation in the group. While eating the bravas, calamari, pan tomate, and tortilla, Sebastian started explaining a “local tradition” of how
they put wine in a goat-skin container, and taught us all how to drink from it
without touching it to our mouths. This was slightly awkward, and Christina and
I both spilled red wine all over our clothes. All in the spirit of fun though!
Next up, the owner decided that we needed to partake in another “local
tradition” (I say this in quotes because I feel like he maybe made it up) of
dipping our finger in alcohol, lighting it on fire, putting it out in a cup of
water, and then immediately taking a shot of this light-green alcohol. He made
Greaham do it first since he was the only guy, but then eventually all of us
were peer-pressured into doing it. The fire actually hurt my finger, though I
felt lame thinking that. Later, we realized that the light-green shot he made
everyone take was actually absinthe. That could explain why we all felt to
giddy and light headed when we left the restaurant.
 |
| Finger being lit on fire, then Absinthe |
Back in the van, we drove to our final destination of the day. A
gigantic dam built into the side of a cliff. The water was coming out so fast
and with so much force, it was insane. I have never seen anything like it! We
climbed up a gravel pile (which was somewhat of a struggle given that everyone
was tipsy) to get closer, and then our guide took a cool jumping
photo of everyone in the group. That was our last stop of the day, and we all
had so much fun. The drive back to Valencia went quickly, lots of chatting, and we
were sad the day had come to an end. Another nice thing about this tour was
that the guides took photos for you, so you don’t have to worry about getting
your camera ruined- all in all, it was a great day and an awesome tour!
 |
| Jumping in front of the huge dam |
No comments:
Post a Comment