When we began researching places in to live in Spain, Valencia was one city we really considered. It's a fairly decent-sized city right on the Mediterranean coast and it's famous for being the birthplace of one of Spain's most famous foods: paella. (For those who don't know, paella is a dish made with Spanish rice, vegetables, and usually some sort of meat or seafood.) We arrived in Valencia after spending a night in Castelló, a small town about an hour away, and it was very refreshing to leave the tourist traps of Barcelona behind. It was also nice to hear the majority of people speaking Spanish! While Valencia does have its own dialect, we had a much easier time using the little Spanish we know getting around town.
Our first morning in Valencia was really neat. We stumbled across a small festival in one of the plazas near our hostel. There were lots of people just milling about in the plaza right in front of the Cathedral. There was also a stage set up and we had a chance to watch some really cool dancing. The best part, though, was that it was about 20 degrees (near 70 Fahrenheit) and the middle of December!
After watching the show, we toured the Cathedral and climbed 200 stairs in a tiny, spiral, stone staircase to the top of the bell tower. From there, we had an amazing view overlooking the entire city. It was even possible to see the Mediterranean Sea, although we were about 4 or 5 miles inland. (We did eventually go to the beach, but by then it was getting much cooler, and it smelled like fish. Even though it was warm to us, it’s still winter here and the water was cold. And it smelled like fish!)
Nightlife in Valencia is typical of any city in Spain. People don’t start going out until after 8 and they party until the sun comes up. It’s really no wonder when you see them drinking Agua de Valencia all night: orange juice, Champaign, and vodka. Very dangerous stuff!
The other great thing about Valencia was staying in a hostel that had a kitchen. After almost a week of traveling, it was good to finally be able to make a home-cooked meal and save a little money. But after two nights it was time to get moving again. We decided to take a 3 hour bus ride to Madrid, then transfer and take a 1 hour ride to see Toledo. It might sound like a long time, but our other option was to take a 8 hour bus ride to Sevilla, and we weren’t quite ready to stop sightseeing.
