Iglesia de Santa María

Now on to Valencia…

After having breakfast and packing a light lunch, we caught the bus at 11:15 a.m. in Peniscola that took us to the train station in Benacarlo for the 12:26 p.m. train to Valencia. The train had a handful of people on it but as we progressed towards Valencia it filled up so there was standing room only. It took us about 2 1/2 hours and cost us around $20 Cdn each.

The Norte train station in Valencia is beautiful. It is an art nouveau masterpiece that is still an active railway station 100 years after it opened. The Valencia City Guide describes it as, ".... a modernist jewel ... with Sezesion-Vienesa style ... On the front façade you can see the most typical elements of valencian culture: oranges, barracas (valencian traditional house), La Albufera (the lake), women dressed with traditional valencian dress."

At present it is being renovated on the inside so we couldn’t really see the artwork but the outside is beautiful. The interior and exterior decorations (mosaics and ceramic tiles) were done as a tribute to the importance of the Valencian orange trade, Valencia oranges, at the turn of the century (completed in 1917).

We easily found the Metro station and took Line 5 towards the marina to Ayora where our Air bnb apartment for 5 nights is located.

Vivacious Carmen, our hostess, met us on the orangetree-lined road that the apartment is on and showed us with pride her beautiful place. What a treat to have such a lovely quiet place at a good price for an extended time.

Men sit outside of little bars chatting about their day, drinking coffee, wine or beer. There are fruit and vegetables shops galore. Bakeries open at 6:30 a.m. Barber shops are at every corner. The bus stop is at the top of our street. On the next street we can rent bicycles or scooters for 5 Euros a day. The famous City of Arts and Sciences is at the other end of the street. Parks and gardens are everywhere.

The huge grocery store is 5 minutes away and has everything! We are here for 5 nights so we went out and bought all sorts of Spanish goodies - wine, salad ingredients, mandarins, Serrano ham, cheese, bread, olives, sausage, etc. Lots of food for $70 Cdn!

Carmen recommended a few of the many restaurants that are close by but we are happy eating breakfast and dinner here. Of course, we have to try Valencia’s famous paella.

We haven’t really needed to wear many different clothes but it was time to do some laundry. We have a washing machine and clothesline here so did a couple of loads while we put away food and ate a tuna salad for dinner.

It was quite a day, full of new experiences. We are looking forward to exploring Valencia tomorrow. I booked a free 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the old town for tomorrow afternoon. Should be interesting,

Re clothes…everyone here wears jeans (or leggings), a T-shirt, running shoes and a jacket/vest, so we fit right in.Читать далее