Rainy Valencia

Rain and Valencia are not two words that are normally used in the same sentence.  All the guidebooks boast that Valencia is a sunny, warm spot in Southern Catalonia with great walking tours. Unfortunately, these past three days there were not sunny and warm; they were the opposite: wet and dreary. The IES pre-planned trip went south real fast with complaining girls who wanted to stay dry and lazy boys who would rather sleep than listen to the poor tour guide. I'll admit, I did make a complaint or two about the weather, but really tried to make the most of my time in Valencia.  Before getting to Valencia, we stopped at the Torres Winery, where we had a lovely tour of the vineyard and learned about their wine-making process. At that point, the rain had not begun. We arrived to our hotel Wednesday evening and were given a few hours of free time before dinner.  Two of the girls and I decided to venture out and find one of the restaurants/ bars written up in a guidebook.  We found the spot with little confusion and ordered ourselves a pitcher of "Agua de Valencia." Oh, baby was this orangey-sangria-like drink tasty. So tasty that we ordered a second pitcher.  Then came dinner and afterwards we ventured out to a bar that our teachers just so happened to be at.  I've gotta say there's nothing like watching your spanish teachers dance.

Christina, Nicole & I after having our first taste of horxata

Thursday came and went with more touring around. My favorite part was visiting the cathedral where the supposed chalice that was used at the Last Supper is safely held. I also tried horxata, which is a white sugary drink made from tiger nuts and other things like water. We also visited the aquarium to see some spanish fishies. The neatest part was the dolphin show! Even though it was held outside, we sat there and enjoyed the squeals of the children in the row in front of us every time a dolphin moved its fin.  Thursday night was spent in the hotel room watching professional ice-skating and talking with Nicole and Christina. We happened to be talking a tad too loud around 12:30 am and a mysterious woman named "Claudia" called us to say quiet down. That's when we decided it was bedtime for fear of angering Claudia. 

Today (Friday) was perhaps the most drab day -- pouring down rain and a short tour around Tortosa, which included very little retainable information.  Keep in mind that our tours were conducted in spanish. Onward we went to a restaurant whose specialty is calçots, which are sweet onions that you dip in a sauce and eat in an unusual manner, hence a bib is worn. The 2:45 pm lunch was much needed after a gloomy day of traveling by bus.  Finally, I arrived home, to Barcelona, earlier this evening. Since Mercedes is away this weekend, visiting her friend in Madrid, Anjali and I are preparing dinner for ourselves tonight.  And by preparing, I mean: we're heating up the food Mercedes pre-cooked and put in the fridge for us. 


¡Qué alegría estar en casa!