Where would 2 Haligonians and a Quebecois go for a 3 day vacation? My cousins and I decided to meet up in Valencia to have a good time at the beach and see the city. Two of us live in Spain- Barcelona and Madrid. The other came down from Halifax, NS, to cover some soccer games in Madrid (he’s a sports journalist). Read my post for a larger than life experience.
A tip: DO rent bicycles if you like cycling. We got to see the entire boardwalk from coast to coast, the marina full of boats and even some country/farm life outside the touristy parts of the city. There are bike trails and the scenery is amazing, plus it felt exhilarating to let go of my hair and cycle away without a worry in the world. We rented our bicycles from a kiosk at the beach, which is the only bike agency there. 9 Euros/ day or 7 Euros/ 4 hours. We chose the day. We hauled our bikes up the tiny elevator in our Airbnb to leave overnight. Soooo worth the bike rental.
Our Airbnb was cheap and point on value because of its central location. We would have paid at least 20 Euros more had we gone to a cheap hotel in a similar type of location.
For food we ate at Casa Montaña. Typical Spanish food – good – and the service our waiter gave us was much better than any other Spanish restaurant we’ve been to and he spoke good English. It’s the type of place where you pay a little bit more than average in exchange for slightly small portions of food, but it was good quality food and since it was rated high with many reviewers on Yelp we let it go. The potatoes were quite fresh and from a “good” farm. The bar is located in a nook a few minutes walk from the beach.
The other place we liked is called Restaurante Alma. It’s located on calle Franca 58. We Yelped “paella” and we found that restaurant. It’s known as L’azud on Yelp. We telephoned them and ordered 3 paellas for takeout. When we arrived we had to wait 15 minutes longer than expected, but when they brought us our food, to our surprise they added real knives and forks because they didn’t have plastic ones. Our host also gave us free cans of Coke. The hospitality was out of this world. I’ve never experienced such detailed attention to costumers in Spain, ever. We took our paellas to the train, and after our knives were confiscated from us at the police control, we scarfed down the grub. It was delicious.
There’s an ice cream shop called Grasol on Calle de Mediterráneo next to the beach. I haven’t had ice cream this good as far as I can remember! The two flavors I asked for were Banana split and chocolate.
We didn’t forget to go to the City of Arts and Sciences on the last day. It’s worth going there if only to see the exterior part of the buildings.
On the way back there was a train strike which meant the cafeteria was closed and the tv nor music was working. So, I happened to have extra water and an extra can of coke with me. When one of my seat mates found out about the strike she almost dropped her jaw to the floor and didn’t know what she’d do with her life without water. I offered her my extra water bottle and she took it gratefully. I also gave my extra coke to what looked to be a university student and he opened it and took a sip in an instant. Glad I could be of some service during this untimely train strike!
All in all, us 3 Canadians enjoyed our stay in Valencia. Everyone needs a little vacation at some point!
Signing off –
Shamim Sobhani
nice pics. liked the post.
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked reading it. I’ve been reading up on your blog too and it’s really good!
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Sounds like fun!
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I can reassure you it was! You should go!
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Lol! I will add it to my ever growing list of places to visit 😊
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Those types of lists will just keep growing, right! I’ve got one of my own.
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I’m really going to enjoy reading your posts about Spain as I’m a Brit living here too. It’s been beautiful so far.. p.s yes there’s tons of palm trees here! Haha! 🌴 xx
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Thanks for commenting! I appreciate it 🙂
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I really look forward to more 😉
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I enjoyed reading your posts so far. The pictures, writing, it’s all good. Hopefully we’ll keep in touch 🙂
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It sounds like a great trip. I remember we ate a lot of paella when we were in Spain!
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Nice! Did you enjoy the Paella?
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Oh, yes! More than once!
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We only ate it once 😦
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Perhaps, but you certainly ate it in style. It is very exceptional that the restaurant gave you your take-out with real silverware and free Cokes!
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TIS: This is Spain, which means that I don’t find anything out of the ordinary anymore after years of living here hahaha. You must expect the unexpected sometimes 🙂
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Sounds like you’re having fun.!! Can’t wait to read more of your posts. Also, thank you for the blog follow 🙂
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You are living an adventure, how divine!
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Thanks for dropping by!
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I will, more often now that I’ve found you☺
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:):):)
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