The drive to Valencia is quite easy, only about 3 hours, although the scenery was a bit dry (similar to driving through Eastern Washington). We arrive in the late afternoon after a late departure from Madrid. Tim still had many friends to say goodbye to, and emotions were running high. We find camping just south of the city in a small village, set up camp and head to the beach. Oops! this beach seems to be an alternative beach, meaning clothing optional. We find a spot well to the far side where there are many families. The sun feels nice and it is good to relax.
We visit Valencia on the Sunday and as many of you know much of Europe is "closed" on Sundays. Being closed means many things; first most grocery stores are typically closed all day, parking is free and some smaller tourist sites are closed. We easily find a shaded parking spot about in the middle of the sites we wish to visit in the old town and market, the Opera House, Aquarium, IMAX and parks. The Opera House, Aquarium, IMAX Theater all look like something out of Star Wars. They are surrounded by fountains and ponds and are quite the display of modern architecture. We end our evening with a fabulous Paella, salad and bottle of wine.
The next morning, we head 25km north of Valencia to the historic village of Sagunto. What we did not realize is in Spain the historical sites are closed on Mondays! We walk around town and up to the Roman Theatre; we will stay through tuesday to explore more. We spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach.
We are up early to visit the castle and the roman theatre before the heat of the day. Amazing, just amazing. It is so hard to imagine that these sights were all built so very long ago with out the help of "modern" inventions. We could still see the remains of the original Roman fort, temple and then the subsequent additions made over the centuries. definitely different yet they still used the old walls reinforcing and expanding as each subsequent group inhabited the hilltop.
We visit the beach of Port Sagunto, and thankfully this is a regular beach. Arriving back at our camp groung, we find the Gypsies have come and come in numbers. All seem very nice but ... we (like everyone around us) are a bit more watchful of our things. No worries.
We head north out of Sagunto keeping to the coast of Spain. We stop in the "small" village of Pineda de Mar. I say small because it is a small town but now it is the height of tourist season and people are everywhere. We find nice camping minutes from the beach and quickly decide we must stay two nights as they are having Paella the next day at 2pm. The photos here are great but the sight of it all was incredible. We purchased some Sangria and for 10 euro we got enough Paella to satisfy the three of us quite nicely. How lucky we are to have been here on this day in particular, as this is a once a year event! Jeff is working on plans of how to obtain a large pan to do a Paella party at home. We will see. Our last night in Sagunto, we meet the neighbors from Holland. It rains as we are making dinner. This is always a challenge for us since we sit on the ground outside our tent for cooking and eating. They come and invite us to eat under their covered front porch. Yes, they look like real campers as opposed to us who look more like Gypsies. It was very nice of them and we stay for drinks and talk into the evening. Many thanks to them for a wonderful night.
The next morning is dry and we pack up and are on our way to France. We hate to say goodbye to Spain, but are looking forward to saying hello to our old friend France.
~Karen & Jeff~
No comments:
Post a Comment