Recently, in utter desperation (to see the sun and the sea) we travelled with two friends, Swedish Sara, a fellow academy teacher, and American Melissa, an exchange student and Daphne, Alabama resident, to the third largest city in Spain, Valencia.
Every time Craig and I travel it rains, so when we arrived by bus we were not surprised to see dark clouds. We decided we were forced to skip the beach for the afternoon and instead wandered through the old and beautiful city center. Surprisingly the sun burned through the clouds and we basked in the sunlight at cafes talking talking talking and people watching.
The next day we woke up to blessed sunshine and headed to the beach! This shore reminded me of the Gulf of Mexico because the water is calm and clear, but the sand is much darker than Alabama's and there is a different feeling to it. We lotioned up, more than aware that our skin had not seen the sun in over SEVEN MONTHS as Spain's winter had been exceptionally long and cold. The water was too cold for swimming, but the temperature was just right for sunbathing, and the four of us read our various books, studied, slept.
In the afternoon when the wind kicked up and we got chilly we ordered paella at a beach side restaurant, as paella was born in and around Valencia and we could not leave without having it here. We also walked around the strangely designed museums of Valencia.
In the evening we bought frozen pizzas to cook in the hostel's large kitchen, only to discover that there was no oven. And so we found ourselves cooking pizzas on stove top and playing cards in the common room with new American friends. (stovetop pizza has the potential for great success and utter failure, just fyi).
The next day we checked out, hit the beach for just a short time, and headed home by bus. The weekend seemed so short! I have never lived in a city more than 1 hour away from the beach before, and residing here in Madrid is a little bit of a challenge for this reason, especially now that it is warm.
The weekend in Valencia was great. I enjoyed the beach, the food, the company, every bit about it.
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