Spanish Labor Day Weekend in VALENCIA

Saturday April 28, 2007

So, because it was a 4 day holiday weekend in Spain for their Labor Day, my roommate Lauren, and I set out for the southern coast of Spain, Valencia.

We left on an 8:30 A.M. bus on Saturday and arrived 8 hours later in warm, sunny, coastal Valencia.

We took a cab to our "hostal," not a hostel but a step up..

The first night we just explored the city a bit and road the bus to the beach (Meditarrean..oo ahh) and walked around for a long while.

Some pics from the first night:













Sunday April 29, 2007

Lauren and I grabbed starbucks frapuccinos for breakfast (because its actually cheaper to go to Starbucks in Europe than the States) and went to find our friend Pacifico and switch hostels for the next couple of nights.

We did a bit of sight seeing along the way. Valencia is known as the city of flowers and gardens, so you will notice a lot of vegetation in my pictures...

We found Pacifico and set out for the America's Cup which was being held at the port on the Meditarrean. The America's Cup is a huge deal. One of the largest sailing races in the world and this is the first time it is being hosted in Europe. If you see it on the news or sports channel...I was there!








Luckily for us the weatherman was dead wrong for the weekend and we got lucky with HOT, SUNNY weather. About 85-88 degrees each day we were in Valencia with bright sun!

We spent some time at the America's Cup grounds walking around and looking at the exhibits and stores and watching some of the races.

Later in the afternoon we visited the museum covered portion of the city. There is actually an entire neighborhood just for all the museums, opera house, aquarium..etc. Obviously, we are all broke travelers so we can afford those 20 Euro plus entrance fees, but it was cool enough just to see the outside of the buildings.










Monday April 30, 2007

On Monday we decided there were a few "must-sees" in the city center that we had to do.

First, we visited La Lonja, yet another Unesco World Heritage Site. It was closed for the holiday..but still cool to look at.





Next, we visited the Mercado. It was enourmous. We all bought an exotic variety of delicious dried fruits there to snack on for the day.


Then, we visited the Cathedral which contains the supposed Holy Grail. Believe whatever you want...it was still cool.










"Holy Grail":

Fountain outside Cathedral:

Woman dressed in traditional Valencian costume:



Then we made our way to the giant parks and gardens that line the city and we relaxed and strolled around...they were really beautiful!














We ate our mid-day meal at a Chinese place right next to our hostel. Chinese is totally the food of choice while traveling-you get a lot to eat..and its SUPER cheap. We got 3 course meal, dessert, and drink all for 7 Euro.



Bull fighting ring:


Lots of oranges in southern Spain:


Aside from the Chinese, starbucks and McDonalds were the only other things we ate the entire weekend...keeping it cheap..what can I say. Sadly, Spain isn't really big on the salad as a meal thing..so McD's is probably the best option. Starbucks is just good anytime.

We were really tired by mid-afternoon so we decided to go back to the hostel and play cards and watch tv.

Then we went to Starbucks. ha.

Tuesday May 1, 2007
We started the day the exact way we ended the previous one: Starbucks.

Then hailed a cab to the bus station and chilled out for a bit.

We embarked on our 8 hour journey home. You would think that 8 hours would be a difficult bus ride, but it really doesnt phase any of us anymore...they play movies, we have stuff to read and listen to...time goes by fast.

To conclude: I like Valencia a lot. Sure, the Meditarrean is not nearly as pretty as the Bay of Biscay...but over-all I give the city 2 thumbs up.