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  • Day 4

    Oceanographic

    July 13, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today we decided to visit the Oceanogràfic. It’s the second largest aquarium in Europe and has 500 different species of animals. My favorites were the cold water creatures such as walruses, beluga whales, seals, and sea lions. There are many plexiglass tunnels that you walk through to watch sharks, rays, and fish swim by. I really enjoyed the variety of jelly fish the had too. Oceanografic also has a dolphin show but Georgia refused to go because she says dolphins are cruel animals.

    I have many great things to say about Oceanogràfic. They are open from 10 am to midnight. Though the cost is steep, you could spend all day and see it many times over. The animals all seemed happy. They had signs such as “no flash photography because the fish cannot protect themselves”. There were several places to eat ranging from inexpensive to fancy and expensive. I highly recommend a visit to Oceanogràfic.

    The aquarium is in a part of Valencia called City of Arts and Sciences. It has several music and science museums with some amazing architecture. Below is an aerial shot of some of the buildings.

    Though the aquarium was amazing, our day started out a bit rough. We decided to take the subway to Oceanogràfic. It’s about a 15 minute walk to the nearest subway station. But, once we got there we decided that it would be not much farther so we should just walk. Big mistake. Valencia is known for having over 300 sunny days a year. Not true today. What started as a little sprinkle, ended with a downpour and we got pretty wet. Oh well. At least it cooled things down a bit. We were so tired when we left Oceanogràfic that we actually took a taxi. Funny thing about me, the only way I’ll take a cab is if I find a taxi stand. I’m too scared to flag one down! There is no Uber in Spain.

    We ended the day doing something Georgia was looking forward to. The legal age for drinking here is 18 and since Georgia is 18 she wanted to order an Agua de Valencia. It’s made from fresh squeezed orange juice, sparkling wine, and usually something like vodka or gin. Apparently it’s made for sharing because it comes in pitchers. She really liked it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t order food because there was a problem in the kitchen so we left half of it and had croissants across the street. Drinking on an empty stomach is never a good plan. After, we walked around and did some shopping. It was a really fun day.
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