Perfect day for the beach

Our Blue line bus tour the day before had afforded us the opportunity to stroll a short stretch of the enormous beach that is at the edge of Valencia's massive seaport.  The beach stretches as far as the eye can see with the amazing Hotel Las Arenas Balneario Resort located right on its sands.  We walked through its lovely lobby and gardens leading to the beach. We immediately had a plan for the next day, let's head to the beach for paella and sangria.

Recommendations from our host directed us to an area of the promenade near Malvarrosa beach. There is a rather touristy section of restaurants, such as La Pepica (made famous by Ernest Hemingway)  near the Hotel Las Arenas which are well documented as "the place to go" for paella. We chose the path less traveled.

After a hearty breakfast bowl at home and a trek back to Plaza de la Reina, we exited the Blue line bus at the beach.  We walked, seemingly forever in the warm sun to find the restaurant Laura had recommended.  We ended up at a Burger King with a Wi-fi hot spot to ask Google to help us with our quest.  Onward we walked, it was getting late in the afternoon and many of the restaurants we passed were closing up. We finally reached the restaurant we were looking for and there was not a sole in it.  We lingered at the entrance and not 1 of the 3 workers inside acknowledged our presence.

Slightly disheartened, we walked to the next restaurant on the beach, Luna de Luz.  It was pleasantly crowded with locals so we added ourselves to the mix.  Just after our arrival, as we enjoyed a lovely, refreshing pitcher of sangria a sun shower passed through.  We all had to rush for cover under the awnings.

Mike had Relleno with Mariscos and Paella.  I opted for the duck empanada and lamb chops. The meal was enjoyable.  The paella experience was not the best, good, just not great.  The duck empanada was outstanding.

Duck empanada

Relleno with Mariscos

During our appetizers, one of the awnings was caught by a gust of wind and about 2 gallons of rainwater dumped on Mike and another patron.  Luckily he was wearing his handy-dandy quick-dry Columbia world traveler shirt.  He was dry before dessert.  We lingered and enjoyed the late afternoon sun that had returned.

On our way back, we hopped off one more time and toured the beautiful palace gardens in the heart of Valenica.  Just a lovely day.

Funky tree in the palace gardens, so I will never be a botanist. :-) 

Red Bus, Blue Bus...Valenica Bus Turistic

Over our years of travel, we have generally found the best way to see a large part of the city at once and get our bearings is to take a ride on a Hop on/Hop off tourist bus.  It seems a little pricey for a bus ride, but you usually get headphones, a recorded spiel (in multiple languages) about the history of the city and you can sit on the top of the open double-decker bus and view the lay of the land.

Plaza de la Reina is dedicated to Queen Maria de las Mercedes de Orleans, 
briefly wife of King Alfonso XII

We selected the Valencia Bus Turistic as our guide for that day.  We bought a 48 hour ticket which also got us some discounts at other attractions we had planned on going to anyway.  Bonus! It had two routes, red and blue which covered the city very well from the old city center, to the beach to the new suburban and cultural centers.  We began the tour at the lovely Plaza de la Reina, one of the most busy squares in Valencia. We spent the morning riding the Ruta B (Blue line)  and took a break to tour the Valencia museum.  After lunch we took the Ruta A (red line).  

Entrance to Museo de Ceramica

Valencia Cathedral in Plaza de la Reina

This gave us an excellent overview of the city sights in a very leisurely way. We also used the map provided for this tour the whole time we were in Valencia as a landmark guide when we got lost wandering around.

We usually steer clear of heavy tourist attractions, but this one has always served us well.  After this day, we were already beginning to fall in love with Valencia.

Fountains on the Plaza de Ayuntamiento

To market to market (5/19/2014)

As with each arrival to a new place, our first trek is always to the local fresh market and a supermercado for staples.  In the case of Valencia, we were one glorious block away from the Mercadona Supermercado.  We were also only a few minutes walk away from Mercado Central de Valencia.  You can actually feel the history in this building and its incredible architecture.

It is bustling daily, except on Sunday. There are vibrant fruits and vegetable displays along with meat and prepared food vendors.

We wandered up and down the aisles barely able to contain our excitement over the food experiences we would enjoy in Valencia.

We stocked up on fresh salad items, some olives, bread, cheeses and serrano ham to get us started.  As it was edging close to lunch time, we made a final stop at a beef butcher with an array of prepared all beef patties.  We selected two buey burgers to take home and grill.  We were unable to confirm exactly what kind of beef were used in the burgers.  Translated, it can mean cow, ox or kobe beef.

Well, we did not have a grill, but I pan fried them with some fresh mushrooms, artichokes and fresh strawberries.  We paired it with some crazy good $3 Spanish red wine and we had our first gourmet experience in Valencia.  


The burgers were tender, fatty and juicy so were did not get too hung up on their genetic make up.   After that very large lunch, we needed to walk around some or sleep it off.  We decided a walk through the Jardin del Turia would do the trick. 

The Turia river is a Spanish river which has its source in the Montes Universales, amidst the mountain ranges of the northwesternmost end of the Sistema Ibérico, Teruel province.  It runs through the provinces of Teruel, Cuenca andValencia, and discharges into the Mediterranean sea near the city of Valencia.  After several flood events, the final catastrophic one occurring in 1957, the city re-routed the river and turned its dry river bed into a verdant sunken park traversing nearly the entire city. It is perfect for biking, walking and enjoying immense amounts of green space in the heart of the city. Several beautiful auto and pedestrian bridges cross the park for access to the new parts of Valencia.   Take a really bad thing about your city and change it into a really good thing, pure genius.

The Jacaranda trees were in full bloom on this day.