Thursday, July 9, 2015

Viaje a Valencia (Trip to Valenica)

We arrived at the train station in Valencia around 8:30 and got a taxi to our hostel, Innsa. Teresa, the owner, then checked us in, showed us our room, and explained how things worked in the hostel. After she left us, there was a small procession for Saint Carmen outside our windows because it was her feast day or something like that. 
 We settled in and then headed to dinner. Everywhere we walked, there was someone trying to get us to go to our restaurant and we finally chose Mavala. They had an upstairs loft and we sat up there. They had a deal where you could get two entrees and a desert for €12 and so we got pollo en agridulce (chicken in balsamic vinegarand a four cheese pasta. 
 We really enjoyed the pollo (one of my friends even got a second helping) but the pasta wasn't as good. We then got desert, tiramisu, which was fantastic. After that, we headed back to our hostel and went to sleep.

The next morning, we got up, got dressed, and headed down to breakfast. It was a simple breakfast, with toast, muffins, or croissants along with coffee, tea, or water. We then headed to the beach, called Malvarrosa. We took the metro line, which, unlike the other cities I've visited in Spain, is above ground. We took line 4 to the beach (although we started off on the train going in the opposite direction) and made it there around 11. 
It was really pretty and the water was so clear, you could see your feet even if the water was all the way up to your chin. It was also much saltier too. 

NOTE: If you are pale or if you burn easily or even if there is a possibility that you might burn, wear tons of sunscreen! I applied sunscreen twice in the 4 hours I was there (which is a lot because I was in the shade of the umbrella for half the time) and I still got slightly burned. Apply a lot and apply it frequently. 

We ate lunch at a nearby Pans&Company and then we headed back to our hostel on the metro line.  We all took showers and relaxed until dinner time in the cute little lounge area they had at Innsa. We then headed to dinner at La Catalina, where we got lagrimas de pollo (literally chicken tears but basically just small fried pieces of chicken) and paella de pollo (chicken paella). The lagrimas were good but none of us really enjoyed the paella. With the price of the meal that we didn't really enjoy, we decided not to go back. 
We then headed to the hostel and went to bed. 

The next morning, we got up and headed to the Mercat Central or in Spanish El Mercado Central (the central market). It's one of the oldest and largest markets in Spain and it was really cool to see all of the fruit, meat, and vegetable stands. 
 On the way to the bus station to go to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (the city of arts and sciences) where the Oceanográfic (aquarium) is located, I got hit on by a very drunk man. Everything was fine, with one friend pulling away and the other pulling me away, but that was a very interesting encounter. He basically asked me if my hair color was natural. I didn't really understand what he was saying (as he was invading my personal space and I was trying to get away from him) but my friends translated what he said later. 
We finally made it to the bus station and took that all the way to the aquarium, although we missed our stop and had to walk back to it. We bought our tickets (around €23 for just the aquarium) and then entered the aquarium. 
They divided the aquarium into different sections based on where the fish came from and we started with the tropics because it was closest. 
We got to see a dolphin show, which was really cool. They had some child volunteers, but to pick these volunteers they actually made them answer questions or picked the child whose parent danced the worst (that was extremely funny to see). During the show, the Dolphins did extremely high and complicated flips. I hadn't realized that they were that talented and so it was really cool. 
After that, we headed to the area with the sharks and I took this really funny picture. 
I found it really funny that they had an exhibit for ducks. 
 We then headed back to the hostel to change and relax, because we had spent at least 4 hours at the aquarium. After a little bit, one of my friends and I headed to see the Cathredal but along the way we found a little medieval market, where they sold leather goods along with food, jewelry, and soaps. 
We then made it to the cathedral, which was extremely pretty. We didn't go it but we did end up walking around La Plaza de La Reina (Queen's Plaza) and it actually rained (first time I've seen rain here)! They had some really cute shops and after looking in those, we headed back to the hostel to pick up our other friend for dinner, 
 We went back to Mavala because we had loved it so much the first night. We once again go pollo en agridulce
This time though, we also got Pasta Carbonara which we liked a lot more. We got a torta (cake) for desert. It had different layers of caramel, chocolate, and I believe Nutella. It was really a good but we all agreed the tiramisu was better. 
We headed back to the hostel and went to bed once again. The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast before catching a taxi to the train station. 

One other thing I really like about Valencia, is that everywhere we explored in the area around our hostel, which I believe was the older city, had paintings and murals on the walls. I really enjoyed that. 

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