Valencia

Odometer: unchanged

As the sun rose over the camper site at 8:00 AM, Sebb had already been in bed for half an hour finishing the blog post for the previous day. He had also completed the lessons on the language app. We always learned the language of the country we were in or refreshed our prior knowledge from school in this way. Once Ines was awake, we had a hearty breakfast before heading off to the bus stop.

We took bus line 25 for half an hour through freshly planted rice fields into the city. On the way, we noticed that Valencia was clearly greener than most cities we had seen recently. A park had been created in the former riverbed of the Riu Turia around the city. The bus line conveniently ended at Plaza Porta de la Mar, near the Palacio Justicia, which were our first two sightseeing buildings. We then walked further into the city center, first to the Catedral de Santa María de Valencia and its bell tower Torre del Micalet. In the church, the Holy Grail, which serious speculation suggests could be the actual Holy Grail, was kept in a special display case. Right next door was the Basílica de la Mare de Déu dels Desemparats. A little further north, we then walked through the Torres de Serranos, the two towers of the former city wall that protected the city gate towards Zaragoza and Barcelona. On the way to the second pair of towers with a former city gate, we passed the Palau de la Generalitat before reaching the so-called Torres de Quart. Now we had arrived at the western edge of the city center and turned back east. As we circled the Mercado central, we also saw the Iglesia de Santos Juanes and the Lonja de la Seda. In Valencia, you get the feeling that you can hardly take a few steps without encountering a monument. Even when we decided to end our tour, we passed the Ayuntamiento on our way south, and the Palacio de las Communicaciones was also worth a photo. The Estación del Norte was partially covered by scaffolding, and right next door stood the Plaza de Toros. After walking through the Russafa neighborhood, we reached the Palau de les Arts, right beside it were the Museu de les Ciències, the Ágora, and the Umbracle.

When we boarded the bus back to Gary, we could hardly walk another step. We were fascinated by the city, where even most residential buildings made the effort to be architecturally artistic. Perhaps it was also the two universities with about 80,000 students that made us feel so comfortable in Valencia.

Back at the camper site, we enjoyed our groceries that we had bought in a bakery in Russafa, and then it was siesta time.

In the evening, we had energy and time to play again, as it was already getting dark at 7:00 PM.