The Longest Day

Better late than never!

So last weekend (March 2-4) two of my friends and I traveled to Valencia, Spain (where my sister, Lizzy, studied for a semester in Spring 2009!).  Valencia is on the coast, a little north of Madrid, sort of between Granada and Barcelona.  It was QUITE a whirlwind adventure.

We left Granada at 22:15 (10:15pm!) on Friday, March 2nd on an overnight train.  Unlike when my family took an overnight train from Barcelona to Sevilla in 2002, we opted to just buy seats instead of beds, since it was way cheaper.  The seats were actually pretty comfortable--WAY better than a bus or plane!  We had a pretty uneventful night on the train and arrived in the Valencia train station at 4:55am.

It was still dark and completely dead when we got to Valencia, but luckily a cafe in the train station was open, so we hung out there for about 45 minutes, slowly drinking our coffee/tea/hot chocolate (Breakfast #1).  Around 6am we ventured out of the train station and onto the dark, sleeping streets of the center of the city.  It was surprisingly not sketchy!  My favorite thing to see where ¨Churrerias¨ on almost every corner!  They were little stands that sold churros and had lights and decorations like you would find at a carnival.  I´m not sure if they were there for Las Fallas (month-long festival in Valencia during March), or if they are always there, but either way they were fun!  We saw a fair amount of people (mostly drunk) and cars (mostly taxis) while we wandered around the streets.  We found our hostel, then found El Mercado Central, which was actually almost open!  We wandered (you´ll see wandering was a big theme for the day) around the market, watching vendors set up their stands, piling delicious looking fruits and veggies on tables and hanging legs of pigs and cows from the ceiling.

Outside the train station at 6am...

Las Fallas decorations!

El Mercado Central in the growing sunlight

Around 7:15, we finally found an open cafe and had second breakfast!  Tostada and zumo for me!  After eating and hanging out for a bit, we realized the sun had FINALLY risen, so we decided to go to the Cathedral.  It opened at 9am, so we were able to go inside!  It was pretty cool.  Smaller (surprisingly) than the cathedral in Granada, but they claim that is holds the Holy Grail, so that was cool to see.  It also had the preserved arm of a saint, which was a new experience for me.

Cathedral

Cathedral

The rest of the morning was spent familiarizing ourselves with the center of the city (aka wandering).  We got our third breakfast around 11am ( ¨elevensies¨for all you Lord of the Ring fans), and I had fantastic churros and chocolate!  While we were eating, a parade went by with people dressed in colonial clothing!  There was a band, too, which was fun.  We think it was for Las Fallas.  After eating, we sat in the sun in the middle of a plaza for a while and watched a protest walk by with signs and drums!

We finally checked into our hotel around 13:00.  We were staying in an 8-person, all girl dorm.  I had no idea what to expect, but it ended up being really cool!  The hostel´s walls were painted bright green and orange, which was sort of strange, but it was a pretty cool place.  We shared the room with two American girls studying in Madrid, one German girl visiting a friend, and one Spanish girl.  I got the top bunk woo!

Parade!

Protest

Lovely fountain!

Hostel!

After checking in and getting settled, the three of us went for paella!  Valencia is the home of the paella, so we had to get it while we were there!  It really was super delicious (although not any better than the paella my host mom makes!).  After eating lunch, we decided to catch a bus and go to La Cuidad de los Artes y las Ciencias.  This is a collection of museums outside of the center of Valencia.

There is no real way to describe the awesomeness that is the architecture of this area.  The buildings are all super modern and there are giant reflecting pools and a park surrounding them.  We didn´t actually go into any of the museums, but we spent two hours hanging out in the sun enjoying the surroundings (wandering).  We finally left when the sun started to set and some kids started setting off small (but mighty) fireworks near us.  (Sidenote: During Las Fallas, people set off fireworks all day, every day in the middle of the street or in the middle of crowds.  It got pretty obnoxious, although I was glad to be there for it!).

Ciudad de los Artes y las Ciencias

We went back to the hotel and chilled for a bit because we were EXHAUSTED.  Dozing for an hour or two on a train is NOT what I would call good sleep.  After a break, we wandered around el Barrio Carmen (a very cool area for eating and going out) looking for a restaurante.  We found one and ate there and it was good!  We even managed to take some fruit back with us for our return journey.  We stayed out for a bit in the city, but honestly were completely beat, so we had somewhat of an early night.  I know the Valencia has good nightlife, but we all agreed that we would much rather have an awesome day than an awesome night.  It was seriously the longest day ever.

Sunday morning we got up early, got some breakfast (more tostada!) at a nearby cafe, and hung out in a sunny plaza until 10am when the Botanical Gardens opened!  These gardens were really pretty and super cool!  I imagine they would be nicer in summer, but we enjoyed walking around, looking at all these different plants.  There were also a ton of stray, friendly cats, which I loved haha!

Eventually we began walking back to the train station, since our train left at 12pm.  We managed to check out la Plaza de Toros (bullring) for a few minutes though, and I got a ¨churro relleno¨(churro filled with custard, dipped in chocolate) at a churro stand!

Botanical Garden cat!

The train ride home was relatively uneventful.  It was super long, but the countryside was REALLY pretty, especially during our second ride, as we got closer to Granada and the sun began to set.  Sometimes the train would stop at what turned out to be stations, but seemed to be to be little shacks in the middle of an olive orchard!  Go figure, Spain.

We got back to Granada at 19:00 and walked back to our apartments in the growing darkness.  We got held up, though, by a huge procession going down the street!  Not really sure what it was for, but there were a ton of priests and civilians dressed in robes and other traditional clothing, bands and drummers, and a giant platform carrying a statue of a saint!  Pretty cool to see.

So it´s been over a week since Valencia, and I am happy to say that things have been a bit calmer!  This past weekend I went through my program to several museums up in El Palacio de Carlos V (part of the Alhambra).  It was a gorgeous day! On Sunday, we took a bus to the beach about an hour away!  That was really awesome, since it was only March 11th!  It was a bit chilly sometimes, but I was able to lay out in my bathing suit top and shorts!  AND I only got a little sunburn!  Major success.

This Thursday (the day after tomorrow!) I am going to fly to DENMARK to visit my best friend Kyla, who is studying there!  Super pumped.