The first thing we all wanted was a lie in. It's a bit difficult when it starts feeling HOT by around 8am. Plus the campsite is next to a motorway. And there's a cannon that's meant to scare the birds that goes off every 4 or 5 minutes, which sounds like the death cannon in the hunger games. We managed to sleep in (or stay in our tents I guess) until around 9.30.
The boys then did some bike maintenance, and I sat reading my book, until about 2pm when we headed in to town for some lunch. Before lunch I made the boys get off the bus a few stops early to have a walk through the park which was the site of the old river. Valencia was built around a river, as most cities were I guess back in the day. But there had been several serious floods in the past, the most notable and recent was is 1957 (I think...) which devastated the city. The decision was made to re-route the river to the south of the city, and in its place, the old river bed was turned into a recreational area, with pretty parks, statues, sporting activities and art things. I'm sure guide books will describe it much better than that though! Anyway, it's really cool and has a running track which spans it's 8.5 km. the night before there was a 15km fun run at 10pm, if I'd have known in advance I would have been keen to do that.
The restaurant we chose was by the cathedral and it was really confusing. It was very hard to get the waiters to take our order, or to give them money, or attract their attention in any way. We didn't really understand the system in the restaurant - there was a menu but also some food laid out on a counter and we weren't really sure what to do. James and I ordered what we thought was a pizza, but when it came it was actually just a slate slab with loads of meat on it. Apparently this was a win as far as james was concerned!
James and I went to a chocolate restaurant for desert...
The plan was to have lunch, see the sights then head to the beach. As none of us really have had any time to do much research on what there is to see, I thought an open top bus tour would be a good way to get a quickish overview of the highlights, whilst giving their tired legs a rest too. Time was ticking on though, it was already almost 5pm, and there wasn't going to be time for everything. We split in to pairs, Jake and Steve went to the beach and James and I went to take a bus tour of the historic sights of Valencia.
I really enjoyed it, and wouldn't really have known where to start with only such a small amount of time to spend in one place. I really like Valencia and can whole heartedly recommend it if you're thinking of a city break any time soon. I would have loved to have spent more than a few hours here. It's great for shopping too, and maybe one day I'll come back with the girls :)
Cathedral
Cathedral entrance
An old thing in Old Town
Another old thing
Out for dinner with my fiancé :)
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