American Friends Arrive to Valencia!

Our mass amount of tapas at Taberna de Jaen

10/13 The long awaited moment of my American friends flying over to visit me had finally arrived! I left the empty apartment with what I thought was enough time to meet the girls at the airport right when they got off the plane. I kind of forgot how my metro stop only has a train that goes to the airport every 25 minutes, and I missed the first one by about 30 seconds. Even though I was a little late, everything still went smoothly. I ran up to the girls in the subway section of the airport and gave big hugs to Liz and Julia. The first thing they said to me was that I looked tan and like I had lost weight. Never a bad thing to hear! After the brief struggles of buying metro tickets before the train leaves, we navigated their big roll suitcases on the metro, towards my “Facultats” stop. We wheeled their bags over the cobblestone streets (making quite the nose) and after three trips up in our super tiny apartment elevator, the three of us and the luggage made it safely into the piso. Surprisingly, the girls weren’t too tired or jet-lagged, and so wanted to squeeze in all we could on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. Our first stop? Food of course! I decided to take them over to Taberna de Jaen (the notorious location where Bárbara dressed up like a bull, remember?) I was so excited to introduce them to their first tapas that I went a little overboard and we ended up ordering an obscene amount of food. I think we got strips of ham, a cheese plate, calamari, two servings of bravas, bocadillos for each person, olives, and a pitcher of sangria. Amazingly, we downed most of it! It was surreal to me though, having these friends from Kentucky suddenly transported into my own personal little world in Valencia. It was a strange feeling seeing them there.  I was so happy though to share the customs, culture, and city I love with some eager to learn friends!

Walkway that runs along what used to be the river Turia

From the restaurant, we walked up a main street, passing the soccer stadium, and headed towards the river (it’s not actually a river though, remember). We went down the steps and strolled up the old river Turia enjoying the fountains, gardens, and parks along the way. We also made a brief stop at the children's playground that is modeled after the "Gulliver's Travels" story. It is a playset made out of a huge plastic man laying down, and it looks like the kids climbing on it are the "tiny people" from the classic story. During out walk we caught up on each other’s lives, and just enjoyed the nice scenic Valencian stroll. After about 45 more minutes of walking, we arrived to the City of Arts Sciences / Ciudad de Los Artes y Las Ciencias. The girls were very impressed with it of course, but how could you not be? The architecture and overall size of the place is awesome. We explored around and took lots of photos, and then swung by the mall to get a drink and chill. At this point, clouds started rolling in. I was a little sad, but luckily we still managed to get some good CAC photos anyways.

Liz and I enjoying the fountains on our walk

City of Arts and Sciences on a cloudy afternoon

Authentic Valencian Paella- yum!

We were pretty tired at this point, so we hailed a cab and I had them drop us off at the fancy beachside hotel Las Arenas. I wanted the girls to see the Playa Marlvarrosa beach area of the city of course! We walked along the scenic beach walk and then headed down to the sand. We got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset over the ocean, and both girls dipped their toes in the Mediterranean for the first time. Around 8pm, we decided to begin the hunt for a good paella place for dinner. We strolled up and down the walk, and finally selected an Italian place called La Divina Comedia. We shared a pitcher of sangria, and the girls had their first paella valenciana (yay rabbit meat). The ocean breeze was great and it was a perfect temperature- not humid and sweaty like it is in the summer. We went shopping at the little places on the walkway, and then we sat down a bench looking out at the stars and the water, and had some quality girl talk. I wanted us to take the tranvia back to my apartment, but our feet were sore so we cabbed it back.

Julia and Liz- their first time touching the Mediterranean!

At the piso, we freshened up and changed, and headed back out. The girls wanted to check out the bar scene- but nothing too crazy (no discotecas just yet!). We headed over to the street Polo y Peyrolón and strategically walked around so that we could get free drinks and entry passes from all the promoter people. We got some sangria at a little place on the tiny street, and then we basically just bar hopped around that area. We got lots of free drinks, but didn’t get in much dancing. We stayed at this one place with really loud music for a while, and then it hit the girls that they had been awake for a really long time. The 6 hour time difference can get to you! So, around 1am we headed back to the piso, and off to sleep. Buenas noches!

John's Valencia Experience

Matador Kills the Bull. Ole!

The much-anticipated day had finally arrived! My boyfriend John was here in Spain! I woke up early and took the long metro ride out to the Valencia airport to pick him up. As soon as I saw him, we locked eyes, and I ran through the airport and jumped into his arms. He spun me around and it was so romantic—Just kidding, that is not how it happened at all. Actually, his luggage was lost so I found him in a long line, and helped him speak Spanish. Once that crisis was somewhat averted (no thanks to Air Europa), we took the long metro ride back towards the University district where I live. I got off the wrong exit at my stop though so he got an accidental tour of the streets near my piso. Oops. Anyways, once he dropped off his backpack and got to meet Bárbara and see our lovely piso, we were ready to begin the day and commence his Spanish tourism! First things first, we walked to a little restaurant close by called Taberna de Jaen so that John could have his first “typical Spanish meal”. Bárbara came with us, and we ate a ton of food and had a great time. Poor John, we kept forcing him to talk to our waiter in Spanish since it entertained us to see him get embarrassed. Despite this, he got to have his first paella, jamón Serrano, patatas bravas, and Valencian seafood- all in his first meal. While we were eating, our waiter (who could somehow tell we were foreigners) invited us to check out the “back room” where they keep their bullfighting souvenirs. We agreed, and before we knew what was happening we were all in costumes. John was a matador, I was a flamenco dancer, and Bárbara was a bull. Of course we took tons of silly photos acting out our roles. It was one of those unplanned, random travel moments that turned out to be hilarious and made for some awesome pictures. Maybe it played up stereotypes that tourists to Spain might have, but whatever, it was fun!

The couple at the CAC

Our next stop was the City of Arts and Sciences. I didn’t care if John was tired from his trans-atlantic flight, we were going to beat his jet-lag by not letting him stop moving until night. We walked towards the River Turia area, and got to enjoy the gardens, fountains and little riverwalk along the way to the CAC. It took us about an hour, and once we got there, we spent time wandering around and exploring the place. The architecture always makes for great photos, and I was happy for John to get to see one of the “gems” of Valencia. It was a beautiful day, a bit hot, but the lighting was perfect for my pictures. I was just so happy John was there with me, I’d been talking up the city to him for years, so I was just pumped he could finally see it all in person. Once we’d had our fill of the CAC, we started walking back towards the center. Realizing how tired we were, we gave up and took a cab to the beach area.

As everyone knows, I absolutely LOVE the beach. So I forced John to come see it with me. We started out near the Las Arenas hotel, and did a stroll in the sand. We shopped for a swimsuit for him at the little stalls on the walkway, but for some reason this did not make him want to go swimming. He’s not a big fan of sun or beaches. I guess I had anticipated this, because I wasn’t that upset about not getting to lay out and swim. So, once we walked around and saw the sights, we went to the America’s Cup Port area. This place was lively and hopping back in 2007 when it was hosting the world’s largest sailing competition, but now it’s a bit like a ghost town. All the cool buildings are still there, but a bit dingy and void of activity. The only good part about exploring the port area was that an old ship that looked like a traditional 

Spanish armada boat or pirate ship was there. It also happened to be sunset, so we got to have the beautiful views of the water at twilight. To wrap up his first day in Spain, we ate a quick dinner near my piso, and got ready to face the next day!

L'Umbracle at the City of Arts & Sciences

View of Playa Malvarosa in Valencia

Red-Beard the Pirate by his Ship