But you cannot live on infatuation alone - one must eat in order to survive. Seafood Paella was divine - in fact it was a lobster paella and it was so good we had it twice! Now that we've eaten, time to stroll around.
First, we check into our favorite hotel: Zenit Hotel Valencia. It is located next to the North Rail Station, a two block walk to a fabulous pedestrian only area and maybe, maybe, 10 minutes to the central food market. The subway station is across the street as is a bus stop. Overall location is a "10".
On this visit we were upgraded to a suite...OMG...it was unbelievable! Top floor, with living room (and a TV) access to a terrace that was enormous. Bedroom with double closets (and another TV), fabulous marble bath and access to that huge terrace. It was a small fee to pay for the upgrade, but the upgrade was worth so much more...we even ordered Sunday breakfast room service; served on the terrace overlooking the city! What a special treat it was...
On this visit, we took a self guided tour of the bullring located next to the rail station. Two weeks prior there had been a bull fight and the arena still had a residual scent. While I would not attend a bull fight, this is part of a country's culture; it is up to Spain citizens to decide whether to continue the tradition or not. That aside, the ring is quite large with plenty of seating in both sun and shade....I'm guessing seats in the shade cost a bit more!
Having done the food market last year, we passed on it this visit...beside, it was Sunday and it was closed. However, a former outdoor (covered) food market, in another part of town, has been converted to a unique concept: chic cafes and colorful flower shops. The lower level had a few restaurants and shops, but the open area of the main level was unique. The cafes were buzzing with families, friends and couples alike. From there we strolled some more and came upon a lovely neighborhood shaded by lovely old trees and dotted with benches for those who would prefer to stop and watch the world go by.
Following day we took another stroll, in a different direction and wandered through and old part of town, came upon one of the old Roman city portals, walked along a dry river-turned-green space, past a Catholic university, and then we suddenly realized we had no idea where we were! We looked at one of those "you are here" maps and still had no clue - the North Rail Station wasn't even on the map! How far did we walk? Well, we just kept walking and decided we should ask someone. We saw a police car ahead and walked towards them when we realized they had someone there and it wasn't looking too friendly...the person they had started calling out to us in Spanish to help him....the police weren't doing anything but talking to him because we could see the policemen from the hill we were walking down...we were NOT getting involved in that despite understanding what was being discussed between police and the man...we just kept walking, at a slightly quicker pace! We did meet a man pushing a stroller and asked him where the North Rail Station was and he gave us a shocked look...it was a good 30 minute walk ahead of us. Tired as we were, we just kept walking and walking and sure enough, within the 30 minutes were we back at the hotel.
What a day...good thing we had that fabulous terrace with lounge chairs and a bottle of chilled white wine in our cooler bag! Watching the sun settle down and the city lights come up would be a pretty sight from the terrace that evening. And lucky for us, there would be no walking tomorrow, just a 3 hour drive to Murcia. But right now, we were going to put our feet up and go over our visit of Valencia. Why not do the same and check out the video!
Fifi
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