January 24th-26th
For my second weekend trip, my friends and I were really unsure of where to go. As tropical storm Gloria swept through the region, flights were pretty expensive so we decided to book a train ticket to Valencia for the weekend. We found a super cute and cheap Airbnb right by the water. The three-hour train ride down the coast of Spain was so beautiful. After checking into our Airbnb we walked to the beach and it was odd that it was almost deserted on such a sunny day. Later we found out that the storm hit that area pretty hard and we were lucky that our Airbnb didn’t cancel on us. We got super lucky with the sunny weather only a couple of days after that crazy storm.
Next, we went to the city center to explore and we saw the old Silk Exchange building. From there we drank sangria at a bar nearby. That night we headed back toward our Airbnb for dinner. We had amazing tapas and wine at Montaña’s wine bar. We ate patatas bravas, of course, Jamón, and tomato bread with goat cheese, so yum!
The next morning we headed back to the city center to go to Mercado Central which is a huge market full of vendors that sell a huge variety of things from fruits and vegetables, to meats and candy. There I had some traditional Valencian orxata. It’s really different from the Mexican horchata that I’m used to because it is made out of tiger nuts. Also at the market, we tried Valencian orange juice and churros con chocolate.
Right outside the market, there are a ton of outdoor terrace restaurants. At one of these, we had Jugo de Valencia, which is basically sangria with orange juice, and seafood paella. I learned that Valencia is the birthplace of paella but their typical version of the dish often includes rabbit, chicken, and sometimes duck. While enjoying our lunch next to the market there was a street performer singing American rock and country songs, so fun! From there we headed to the Aquarium, one of Valencia’s top attractions. The jellyfish were my favorite, as always.
This trip was my first time ever exploring on the bus. It was the cheapest way for us to get around the city and it was super easy to figure out with Google Maps. We took the bus almost everywhere for 1.50 euros each way. The first time we got on the bus we were in a group of people so it was totally simple. But, the second time we were waiting at a bus stop we saw the bus approaching at a pretty fast speed. The bus got closer and closer and it wasn’t slowing down at all. Next thing we knew the bus had blown past us and we were extremely confused. Next time we picked up on the fact that we had been sitting down on the bench instead of waiting on the curb. The next time the bus came by we practically waved it down to make sure we didn’t miss it again, you could definitely tell we were new at this!
The view on the way home to Barcelona on Sunday was just as beautiful as the way there. The new places and experiences that I am having make me fall in love with Europe more and more every day.
Nicole Danigelis 