Valencia - August 25-28, 2018

Maybe it's because Valencia oranges have seeds. Somehow I was expecting Valencia to be an ancient, farm city. Well, it is, but in addition to narrow streets that cross this way and that, this 2000-year-old city has wonderfully wide multi-lane avenues and underpasses that allow fast moving traffic to avoid stop lights and intersections! In addition to being one of Europe's most important ports, Valencia's roots are in farming. The Romans built via ducts here and the Arabs expanded them centuries ago and added irrigation canals. These waterways are still used today to irrigate farms and orchards, and their produce is wonderful. Like a thick swath drawn immediately outside and around the vast urban area fields of irrigated vegetables, olives and of course, oranges are enmasse.

On our first day here, we studied our maps and found a great nearby route to follow minimally uninterrupted by traffic lights for our morning walk. It took us to the Jardin del Turia. This lovely city park is actually a reclaimed river bed that circles the northern half of the old city. It runs a length of about 6 miles. It is the most visited park in Spain. The story is there was a disastrous flood in 1957. To prevent another flood, city leaders decided to reroute the River Turia to the south of the city in the 1960's. The land left behind was to become a recreation area. The people rose up in a time near the early 1980's and demanded more. They said, "the river is ours and we want it green." Today, the green belt called Jardin del Turia has fountains, soccer fields, skating rinks; skate board parks, long jogging trails, and beautiful lush areas for a restful walk or meditation. The garden park extends all the way from the city's new Bioparc to super-duper fantastic City of Arts and Sciences -- both of which I will speak of later. The Jardin del Turia forms a semi-circle around the Old City and links it to newer (circa 19th century and later) parts of the city via multiple bridges. One of the pedestrian bridges dates back to 16th century and today, although built and rebuilt over the ages, was constructed using much of its original building materials.

We learned much of this information on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. We bought two-day tickets and rode both the Red-line through the older, more historic parts of town and the Blue-line that introduces tourists to the more urban parts of the city and to the port and beach. By the time we did our exercise walk, ate a bit of breakfast and walked to the bus stop the clock on our 48-hour tickets began at 1:30 pm. Boy, it was a lot to see drive-by fashion in one day! I was totally confused. And it seemed at every important site I was on the wrong side of the bus. We sat upstairs so we would have the best view and the best air. Have I said that it is hotter than hades here? It is!!! At least our apartment has wonderful A/C. Oh thank you, Lord!! But outside, it is hot. Not too humid, but after about 10 am, it is hot! I have literally bathed myself in sunscreen yet I am nicely toasted! Ok, on the bus all was very nice while the bus was moving but at the programmed stops the bus sat in one spot for 5 to 10 minutes, plenty of time for us passengers to roast to medium-rare.

When we completed the Red Line circle, we hopped off, had snacks at a very cute and authentic Tapas Restaurant. Afterwards we miraculously found Stan's must-do in every city, the Hard Rock Café so that he could buy his collector pin. I don't know how many Hard Rock guitar pins Stan has but they represent virtually every city we have ever visited worldwide where Hard Rock Cafes can be found. I think he probably has 40 or 50.

The day grew old but we pretty much got our bearings in the city. The next day we used our Day 2 tickets to once again rid the Red Line. Today we ditched the free red head phones and used our own earbuds which made the recorded travel guide audio much, much better. I actually understood what we were seeing plus second time around; it all makes much more sense.

From day one we learned two things. We must put our feet on the beach and we absolutely must see the Oceanographic, an important part of the super-duper fantastic City of Arts and Sciences. On our first trip around this part of the city we had ooohed and aaahed at the beautiful, rich architecture that still stands from the 17th, 18th, 19 and 20th centuries. Of course, there were wonderfully magnificent modern buildings - where did all this money come from???? Then we came upon the City of Arts and Sciences. This collection of artfully, imaginatively designed buildings and spaces are simply mind-blowing! Much more spectacular than the Sidney Opera House; as awesome as the Eiffel Tower; as breath taking as the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. Made of concrete, metal and abundance of glass, it is outrageously modern!! It is considered one of the most important treasures of Spain. It includes the L'Hemisferic, an IMAX Cinema, planetarium and laserium - it looks strangely like an open eye and eye lid. It houses the El Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe. This is a science museum that we were told explains the sequencing of human DNA, and "Zero Gravity" and the amazing structure strangely looks like a whale. Finally, and perhaps the crown jewel of the "city" is L'Oceanografic. On day two, we toured this fantastic place. Our first impression was its artistic design. Very cool, very cool indeed!

This aquarium is open-air in that anything that can be display outdoors is in fact outdoors. Other exhibits contain animals in tanks downstairs below ground. It is comprised of a collection of buildings which represent different aquatic environments from all over the globe. And although it attracts thousands of visitors each day, crowds are managed well and walk ways are people friendly. There are stairs and then there are ramps and all are made of wood which is very feet/knee-friendly. We saw many varieties of graceful jellyfish; we saw dolphins, starfish, turtles, tropical fish, barracuda, sea urchins, sharks and rays and penguins, seals and sea lions. Every single animal seemed to have spacious and lively aquatic homes. Oh! And we saw Nemo and Dori. All kids, no matter their age, and no matter of their spoken language, excitedly, as only kids can do, pointed out Nemo and Dori!

The time was probably a little after 6 pm when we finally exited the Oceanografic. We caught the Hop-on Hop Off and knowing we had little time to see the beach decided to hop off there to at least put our feet in the water. We did! And I am so happy we did!

On the way back to our drop off place near our apartment I noticed that most stores were closed including most grocery and wine stores. Uh-oh! We have no vino. Well, long story short, we found the one supermarket still open—quite a walk away I might add. We bought wine and also got a refill of a prescription for Stan that had become exhausted since we extended our stay. I'll just say this, on Day 2, we got in all our required 15,000 steps plus a few thousand, but we got our wine and some food for a late night dinner.

On this late night wine excursion we passed a park where curiously it sounded like hundreds of children playing on a playground. It was like an old time elementary school playground at lunchtime. The kids were running and shrieking and having a wonderful time yet it was going on 10 pm. Then it dawned on us. Kids cannot play outside here during the day. The heat is far too much, so in the evening when it's dark and the temperature falls to cool, families come out. They socialize and the kids run, jump, chase, ride bikes and literally hoot and holler until bedtime. Not such a bad life!

Since we enjoyed the cooking classes we took in Vietnam and in Thailand, and also since Valencia is the home for authentic Valencian paella, we signed up for a class taught by the Valencia Escuela de Arros y Paella. It was a ball! The next morning, we met at 10 am at the school; we got acquainted with our guide, Maria and the other 20 tourists from USA, Canada, Great Britain, and the Netherlands in this adventure. Fortunately everyone spoke English. The group left the school and walked a few blocks to the Central Market. Families who own and operate stalls in this exquisite building have done so for 5 generations. The building was beautifully designed with high arching ceilings and decorative glass windows. Vendor stalls and butcher shops were pristine and perfectly kept and the floors ere spotless—a rare sight in big city fresh food markets. We were told that the market opens each day except Sunday at 9 am and starts to close around 1:30 pm but it's busy time is between 11:30 am and 1 pm, when as many as 13,000 will be shopping for their daily needs. Another thing that makes this market unique is that government does not interfere or apply regulations; self-governing he families have formed a "consortium." It has a reputation for having the highest quality of the meats, fish, cheeses, vegetables, fruit, spices and baked goods in the city.

Everyone knows I love markets! We learned about the vegetable ingredients for paella - only four kinds of beans, two of a green snapping variety and two varieties are to be shelled, plus ripe Roma tomatoes. That's all. Seasonings are smoky sweet paprika, salt and authentic saffron. People generally think of saffron as being yellow and very expensive. Expensive, yes! They said the best saffron is red and it is taken only from the red tips of the flower's stamen. Here in Valencia, yellow saffron is considered inferior - still expensive, but inferior. There are several types of Paella, like seafood paella, black rice paella and vegetarian paella but the meat in Valencian paella only includes dark meat chicken on the bone, rabbit, again on the bone, and a handful of snails. The meat is chopped in to chunks of about two inches in size. If the dish does not include chicken and rabbit, it is not authentic Valencian paella.

We learned so much! And we had a great time doing it. Stan and I were partnered with Bill and Kathy from New Jersey. We simply could not have been paired with a more likeable couple. We watched Katerina, our head chef, as she demonstrated each step and literally shouted instructions in Spanish as if her high volume would help us better understand her language. We took turns performing the various steps to prepare the meal, browning the meat, shelling beans, snapping beans, and cooking them in the hot oil. We cooked down grated tomatoes and added spices and a ton of water. We turned up the heat to let the mixture reduce. While it cooked we moved to the air conditioned dining room had white wine and traditional Spanish potato omelet tapas. The white wine helped everyone loosen up and enjoy our downtime from the kitchen.

Paella is a dish that is traditionally for Sunday family gatherings. It is made in big batches and it takes a long time to prepare. Like lasagna or chili con carne, its flavor improves when served the next day. Great chefs don't use measuring cups or spoons and they don't use timers. They feel heat of the pan by holding their hand over the pan, the right amount of oil is determined when only the space of a sideways hand can fit between the outer edge of the pool of oil poured slowly in the center of the Paella (also the name of the round flat pan in which the dish is prepared) and the pan's outer edge. Salt and spices are added in pinches and the liquid is cooked down and ready for the rice when the depth of the reaches half of the bowl of a standing spoon. I love this stuff and you can't make it up!

When the paellas were finally done, we junior cooks were sweating from attending huge steaming pans on the flaming stoves. Although we were hot, we enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment. Indeed!

By the time we served the paella, the group of twenty-two strangers had spent nearly five hours together and had gotten to know each other a bit. We laughed at one another; we cheered for each other, shared email addresses, wished each other well, and we enjoyed a great meal together! We left with far more than we came with.

Stan and I agree; we like Valencia. Like most European cities, it is truly beautiful and its people are friendly. The city has an abundance of parks, museums, and fountains. It is apparent that over the centuries, city leaders have been consistent in preserving the culture and beauty of the past but moved forward also into the future with ultra-modern buildings, public transportation and recreational, educational and artistic opportunities for the city people.

Speaking of transportation, we happen to be on a high speed train traveling from Valencia to Malaga. Stan just pointed out to me a lighted sign on the wall giving us current time, temperature and speed at which we are traveling - 302 Km/Hr. That's 186.4 miles an hour! Now, that's travelling! Why can't we have something like this at home?? Like Superman, it's faster than a speeding bullet plus there are no traffic lights, no bad drivers and no cops to spoil the day.