Valencia and the Mediterranean Sea

We had seen a lot of Madrid and Pauley really wanted to see the Mediterranean Sea, so after much deliberation we made a day trip to Valencia. Valencia is a coastal town east of Madrid which you can reach by speed train in 1.5 hours or by car in 3.5 hours. Unfortunately, the speed train is expensive and even more exorbitant when you make spontaneous plans. Over $100 per ticket? Yikes! 

So, we rented a car with a GPS for around $20 plus gas. It was so cheap, because it was a manual economy car, a Toyota Yaris I believe. I don't know how to drive a manual, and Brandon wasn't comfortable with city driving, so that left the driving to Pauley. So, now he can cross that off his bucket list. Drive a manual car in a foreign country. Check. If it was even on his bucket list. Probably not. Thankfully, Spaniards drive on the same side of the road as Americans. We had that going for us. 

The man at the rental car company told us we were crazy to drive to and from Valencia in one day. We assured him that a drive of this length is normal for the United States, so it wouldn't be a big deal. He still seemed very skeptical and gave us a lot of advice. We were planning to park outside the city and ride the metro in to avoid traffic. He set up our GPS and re-routed us to an area in the city with free parking, saying we didn't have enough time in the day to park outside the city. We decided to take his advice and see how it went. He was probably still shaking his head at us while we were driving away. 

Three crazy friends road-tripping in Spain

Spanish town on the way to Valencia

Spanish countryside with wind-turbines

Tunnel through some red cliffs

Aqua blue reservoir

We made it to Valencia and found parking pretty easily. Pauley did have to swear a bit as he maneuvered the traffic circles in the city that seemed to have a no lanes marked and a free-for-all mentality. However, I'd say that overall all went smoothly and Pauley was a valiant driver. 

After parking we walked a couple miles to find Valencia Central Market, that Pauley had read about. The building was beautiful. I loved all the painted tiles and ironwork. We were hoping to pick up some lunch there, but the marked contained more raw food than prepared dishes. On the way to the Market we had spotted a craft beer restaurant called Birra & Blues, so we decided to try out the menu del dia there instead. The portions of the menu del dia were large and filling, and it took us nearly 1.5 hours to eat lunch. Yes, 1.5 hours. It was classic, slow paced Spanish time. 

Valencia Central Market

Busy, busy, busy market

Brandon's taco 1st course and our double red craft brew

Brandon wanted some Valencia orange juice before leaving the area, so we went on a mission for that. He had fallen in love with it when he was in the Valencia area of Spain several years ago. We believed him, since there were orange trees lining many of the city streets. By the time we got out of lunch, siesta or nap time was in full swing, so many of the cafes with orange juice were closed. But, we managed to find one and satisfy Brandon. It was delicious, and tasted to me like a cross between tangerine and orange. 

Brandon happily sipping on his Valencia orange juice under an orange tree

With much of our time taken up by lunch we decided to just hit a couple highlights around Valencia. Pauley had done some research on things in the area, and hadn't found much that interested him other than the Mediterranean. I really wanted to go to Museo Fallero, because of Brandon's description of the giant, several building stories high floats for Festival of Las Fallas when he was there in March several years ago. To save time, we took the metro back to the car and then drove to the museum. The Valencia metro was much more confusing than the Madrid one, but we persevered and figured it out. 

Hanging out with orange juice in the Valencia metro

Pauley survived parallel parking near the museum, and we went in to check it out. The fallas museum shows a piece of a float (or falla) that has been pardoned in the festival each year. All the rest of the pieces and floats are burned during the festival. The fallas started out to be moral in nature, with the burning symbolizing destruction of vices. Now there are both satirical and more artistic displays. You can read more about it here or just google images of the event. 

Pardoned figures from a falla

The full size falla that the figure above was pardoned from. Look how the falla is taller than the building. Later the whole structure will be burned. 

Picture of another full size falla with a creepy cat

Grumpy, old men

This one was pretty funny

The figures are so detailed, and they're just made out of cardboard, wax, foam, and/or cork...very flammable materials for the eventual burning. 

A favorite of Brandon's 

I can relate to this one... thanks mom.

In honor of Jacques Cousteau. Look at that cute little penguin. 

A poster advertising the festival

After the museum, we headed to the Mediterranean Sea. We found parking and a park to access the beach. It was a beautiful, warm day, but the wind from the sea kept the beach quite cool. We put our feet in the water, and enjoyed the fresh salty air. I think Pauley would say he was a bit disappointed by the Mediterranean. It didn't look more special than other bodies of water, and the sand is not nearly as nice as that of Lake Michigan. But, he can say he's been. 

View of Valencia from the beach

View down the other side of the beach

Candid shot

Pauley preparing to dip his feet in the Mediterranean

Feeling the cold Mediterranean water

Things are getting crazy

The wind was intense

Standard Moonrise Kingdom pose

Pauley's "By The Sea" glamour shot

Good times

Before making our 3.5 hour drive back to Madrid we stopped back in the city to check out some cool, modern architecture we had seen near the fallas museum. I think it looked like something out of one of the new Star Trek movies. 

Valencia architecture complete with palm tree

Modern bridge and the Agora, a building for exhibitions, sport events, and concerts

Red birds kept in a sphere

There were a ton of pools around the complex

Doesn't this look like something out of the Star Trek films? 

A Vulcan salute seemed appropriate

Wide walkways between space-like buildings

Star Trek continued

Despite the skepticism from the car rental guy, and admittedly some on my part too, we had an adventurous day in Valencia and made it to and from without any issues. In fact, as Brandon pointed out, it felt just like a road trip in the United States. Just three friends driving down the normal side of the road and into a big city. It's true. I think Spain was starting to feel less foreign to us at that point. Vive la adventura!