Valencia day 3. 10th October

My third day in Valencia was a very busy day. First I decided to take a free walking tour which started at 12. These free walking tours are in so many cities and give you a snapshot of the main sights, which you can explore more in depth later if you wish. They are free, but encourage a tip at the end, that way you decide what to pay for it based on the quality of it. The tour was run by a few guys from Liverpool who had come here for a holiday and never left.
They showed us the main sights in the old part of Valencia. The Cathedral, they said boasts the ‘holy grail’ or cup from which Jesus drank at the last supper, as certified by the Catholic Church. There are also still the original city gates though most of the wall is no longer there. They also showed you some things you probably wouldn’t notice unless shown, such as this cheeky statue atop a church building, and this very small house. The entire old city was very pretty and had a variety of styles of architecture based on who were the dominant people there. I must admit I didn’t know a lot of Spanish history before the tour so found it all very interesting.

Following this tour, they were running a Tapas tour so I figured ‘Why not’ and went on it also. For 10 euros they took us to 4 different tapas restaurants. At each restaurant we got a drink for free and a Tapas dish (or two or three or four!). After the fourth place I was completely stuffed with great food (including some amazing seafood- which I had been missing out on in the UK) and also quite tipsy as I had been indulging on the Sangria. I met four nice people on this tour who also convinced me to join the Bar Crawl that night. Following the Tapas Tour I went back to the hostel and had a siesta, in preparation for the big night ahead. The Bar Crawl did not start until 11.30pm so a long night was in order. On the bar crawl we went to 3 bars, finishing at a nightclub. For 10 euros we were provided with free drinks and free entry to the nightclub. I spent my time with the guys from the tapas tour, Ed and Clare from Melbourne, Michael from Switzerland and ‘Mini’ from England. Us Aussies had a ball showing the others how to dance like a kangaroo and they thought we actually danced like that. It was a great night, and I eventually went back to my hostel at 5AM.

Valencia Beach

Wanting to make the most of the warm weather, I decided to spend the day at the beach. I took a train and tram to get there. It was just lovely, a proper sand beach and crystal clear blue water. There were so many people sunbaking, that were so brown, and also many topless women and men in barely there g-strings. I hired a deckchair for the day and spent a few hours lying in the sun. I got a massage for 5 euros. I had a quick dip in the water, it was really nice. I did get a bit more burnt than I had anticipated, but it was very relaxing anyway. When I returned to the hostel, there was a parade about to start as part of their independence celebrations. I went to the street to watch it, and they had heaps of really cool costumes- problem was, the parade went for 3 and a half hours. And, it kept repeating itself. These Valencians surely do know how to make a celebration last a long time!!

Valencia Day 2.

Woke up pretty early and got out of the hostel by about 10. I decided to go to the´city of arts and sciences´which is a large urban centre with museums, an imax theatre and the aquarium (the largest in europe). The walk there took me about an hour, but it led me down what used to be a river, which is now this long park. Each time there is a bridge, the parks change their layout. There was also a heap of water fountains that would make australians very jealous as there is no shortage of water here, with the meditternaen on their doorstep. There were people cycling and jogging everywhere in this park and it was great to see it was put to such a good use.


I got to the city of arts and sciences and marvelled at the modern architecture. The buildings were quite impressive and all in white tiling. Again there were a heap of water fountains and shallow pools, and it was very well maintained (which as I have noticed appliess to the entire city).

I then went to the aquarium and managed to spend 6 whole hours there. It was of a really good setup, and I got an audioguide in english to help me as not many signs were in english.I was impressed with the large dolphinarium where I watched 2 dolphin shows. But the thing that excited me the most was the Beluga whale. Ever since mum got us those animal fact files all those years ago, and I read about belugas I had wanted to see one. I reckon I watched them for about an hour, trying to get a good picture but they were swimming too fast. It wasnt until I was about to leave and my batteries about to go that I managed to get a good one. They also had walruses and they were cool too, though they had cut his tusks quite short. The walruses were constantly wrestling eachother and there were scratches all along the tank where his tusk had scratched it. They were really huge!

By the time I left the aquarium it was 5pm so I walked back to my hostel and had a rest before going to its ´roof terrace´to relax. I got chatting to a guy called Devon who was from Canada and we were still hanging out at midnight when the fireworks began. This weekend in Valencia is a massive weekend, celebrating their independence which kicks off with fireworks at midnight, the start of friday, a public holiday and huge day of celebration. These fireworks were in the dry river, about a ten minute walk from the hostel so he and I ran there to watch. They were the most amazing, huge, loudest fireworks I have ever seen and probably ever will see. And they went for an hour and twenty minutes, finsishing at almost 1.30 am. It got so huge at one point that you could feel the shockwaves pushing down on your shoulders. I even at one point lost my balance. It was truly spectacular and unfortunately pictures and videos canot capture it. Even Devon said it exceeded his expectations, and being canadian has seen some big fireworks displays in his time. Once they had finished we went back to the hostel and as the common areas had closed, went to bed. Here, the sunrises at about 8.10 am and goes down close to 7pm, so its easy to stay up late and also to sleep in.

4 weeks of absolute craziness

Day 1. Just a bit of an introduction. I am going to Australia in December, and the plan is that Daniel is staying in the UK as he has a great job here. I decided to book a Topdeck trip for 19 days, going from Barcelona to Prague to do by myself. So, as my tour starts in Barcelona on Sunday 11th October, I decided to spend a few extra days in Spain and explore for myself. Flights were cheap to valencia, so thats where I have come. I flew out of Stansted at 530 pm, and luckily from Hertforshire it was about 2 hours on a bus, so I got there with plenty of time to spare. After a 2.5 hours flight, I arrived and had to get my way to the hostel. Luckily they had given very good directions and I found my way easily. I had to take the metro, or train from the airport, and well, I will say its the cleanest train system I have ever come across. From the station, it was a short walk top my hostel and I arrived around 10pm. I was checked into my room, an all female dorm sharing with 2 other girls. They were both in bed when I arrived so I had to rummage around my stuff in darkness til I found my phone. I went to the roof to hoppefully meet some people and got chatting with an italian guy and also a british guy. They were friendly enough and gave me some tips on where to go in valencia. They also said 2 nights wouldn't be enough. No problems sleeping or anything, though I was a bit scared about being in a single bunk on top.

Neuschwanstein

A nice short drive today, to Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria. We took the scenic route, which due to some road closures, resulted in an even more scenic route through the countryside. We stopped to take some photos of the countryside and were treated to a show by a frisky bull. After about an hour and a half, we had arrived at the town below Neuschwanstein. We parked the car and bought tickets to enter the castle. It was a 40 minute walk up the mountain to the Castle, which we did quite easily. I did get pretty puffed but am also hindered by a head cold which I seem to have picked up. The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who died under suspicious circumstances at age 40 while it was still being constructed. As a result not many of the rooms are completed, so the tour was quite short. Afterwards we climbed further up the mountain to a bridge which stretched over a waterfall and also then down a winding path that follows the water. It was some amazing forest and Daniel had a blast using the new camera. We took some pictures of identical scenes using the new and old camera and the new one is just so amazing, with 20x digital zoom meaning you can photograph things not even visible to the naked eye.

(zoom on new camera vs zoom on old camera)

After our pleasant walk, we drove the 7 km to Fussen where we are staying our last night in Germany. We walked into town and enjoyed a fantastic meal, of spare ribs and pork cordon bleu. We will have to hit the gym pretty hard for the next couple of weeks to work off the amazing German food we have enjoyed. An early night tonight as we are so full to the brim and are both a bit under the weather. Tomorrow we will return our hire car and head back to London. Daniel will be back to work on Monday and I will be in Welwyn for about 2 weeks before heading off on my next trip.