Four amazing years with my wonderful, handsome man! xo
This June 26th marked Ross and my 4
year anniversary. In some ways 4 years
seems like a long time but in others I cant believe it has only been 4 years
since it seems like we have always been together. This is the second anniversary we were
spending in Spain which is totally crazy to me still and we wanted it to be
special. Since is it blisteringly hot
here right now we thought a trip to the beach was in order so we decided to
travel south towards the Mediterranean and stay in Valencia.
Now to get from Valladolid to Valencia is no easy
feat when you are travelling by train.
It is a short trip, only 4 hours total, but a challenging one if you do
not know what you are doing. We took
the train from here to Madrid where we had to then switch stations to catch our
train to Valencia. I didn’t even realize
there was another station and so of course didn’t know how to get there. We had looked it up online and found out we
needed to catch a different inner city train to the other station, which seemed
easy enough, except they don’t tell you which train or where to get it or which
of the three very busy ticket machines you need to purchase a ticket from. Also we had less than an hour to do this
trip. Once we finally figured it out and
made it to the second station we got on the train with less than 8 minutes to
spare. This I should mention was also a
very costly trip. It was 260 euros for
us to take the train there and return.
We stayed in a hotel right downtown which was
super convenient and actually pretty cheap.
It was called The Ding Dong and as strange as the name sounds I totally
recommend staying there. It was not the
fanciest but it had everything we needed and was in a great location. Also it had a rain shower which is the
greatest shower ever invented.
Plaza de la Reina
Valencia is the third largest city in Spain and a
simply gorgeous city full of really hippie shops, tons of food options and a
truly friendly atmosphere. I felt very
safe and very relaxed the entire time.
It is pretty touristy so there was a lot of English spoken which is
always helpful for us. But just like
Cordoba I did not find the tourist aspect took away from the charm of the
city. The city was founded in 138 so has
rich cultural heritage but has found its place in the modern world as
well. I did find it quite dirty and
smelly but when you have a sewage system from, I don’t know the time sewage
systems were first invented, you have to
expect it isn’t going to smell great on a hot day – like anywhere in Europe.
Plaza Virgen
Plaza Virgen
We wandered the streets of the old town and saw
so many beautiful old buildings, the cathedral that we never got to go in
because of the weddings that never seemed to end, and the remaining towers that
once stood as look out points for the city.
There was a ton going on and so many options for things to do. We ended up in Plaza de la Reina (The Queens
plaza) where we enjoyed burritos from an awesome Mexican inspired
restaurant. One of the guys who worked
there was super nice. The burritos come
with these awesome skull stickers which I obviously needed to keep so when he
came to clear our table and picked up my old garbage sticker I grabbed it from
him and said I needed to keep it. I felt
stupid after for freaking about keeping garbage but then he came to the table
with brand new stickers for me to take home.
I felt like a little kid who gets a treat for being good at a restaurant
ha ha. It was great.
Jardines de Turia
Jardines de Turia
After wandering the streets and through the park
we ended our evening with Sangria and fire dancers in one of the plazas. It turned out to be the perfect weekend to
visit as they were having Gay Pride celebrations so there were people
everywhere partying in the streets and it made for really interesting people
watching! Which is something Ross and I
love to do. We like to find a busy area and
just sit on a bench watching the flow of people.
Calles de Valencia en la noche
Drinking Sangria and watching the fire dancer
My one and only xo
On the Saturday morning we made our way to the
beach for a relaxing day of swimming and sun bathing. We grabbed the metro which took us right to
the beach and once there were able to get a spot with an umbrella for only 4.50
euros for the entire day. This umbrella
proves necessary as Ross will burn even underneath it so without it my love
would be bright red! The beach was busy
but not as crazy as I had expected. My
previous experience on a Mediterranean beach was in Barcelona so I assumed it
would be similar but lucky for us it was pretty chill. I love the beaches here because everyone just
minds their own business and I don’t feel like I am on display. Also it is very common for women to be topless
in Europe on the beach which is great because who wants tan lines? I find it interesting how little it matters
to people that woman are without tops here on the beach. I find back home if you are topless you are a
spectacle. Its nice that people here
don’t really care because it makes being at the beach way more comfortable.
Beach umbrella views
Enjoying the sunshine
Not so scandalous ...
After many hours of swimming and baking in the
sun we couldn’t handle the heat any longer and went back to the hotel for a
shower to get cleaned up for dinner. Now
like I said the rain water shower was amazing but the design of the showers in
this country in general is ridiculous. I
mean why do the shower doors only cover half of the shower area? This means no matter how careful you are the
entire bathroom with be completely full of water every time you shower. I don’t get it. That is something I look forward to having
back in North America – A full shower door!
Starbucks you make my life
For dinner we found Wok to Walk and it was as glorious
as I knew it would be! To make things even
better right next door was Starbucks so our day was already a huge success. We went for a walk, Starbucks in hand, through
the Royal Gardens and it was a perfect way to spend sunset. It smelled gorgeous and was very
romantic. Just path after path of huge
flowers and interesting statues.
Perfect romantic evening stroll
Palm trees fill my heart with joy
Beers were then in order and after a few we felt
pretty exhausted from our day in the sun so we decided to be lame and head back
to the hotel around midnight. However on
our way back we found a Pride Rave happening in a plaza close to our hotel and
we ended up dancing there for a few hours.
The music wasn’t very good but the atmosphere was great. They did play some Chemical Brothers so that
was pretty cool. Eventually we made it
back to the hotel now super exhausted and passed out!
On Sunday we checked out of the hotel after
breakfast and just wandered around the city trying to see anything interesting
we might have missed before our train back home. We wanted to see the main Mercado but unfortunately
it was closed. We did however find a gypsy market where I bought a Bruja de
Suerte (witch of good luck). She now
sits on my alter. After the market we of
course grabbed another Starbucks and somehow managed to eat Wok to Walk again
before running to the station.
Entrance to a church
Climbing up the Torres de Serranos
View of the city from the towers
Since we knew what we were doing this time around
getting from one station to another was much easier although we had even less
time to do it and the first train was late getting in so there was running
involved. I might have knocked over a
small child, I cant be certain as I didn’t look back ;) I'm kidding… I did look back and she was fine.
Overall we had a great time in Valencia. I am so glad we were able to visit another
city on the coast! I love cities in the
Southern parts of Spain and I recommend if you are ever here you check out as
much of the south as possible!
Gorgeous city
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