Valencia. Spain

The Captain felt the hand of the stewardess once again in what seemed the shortest flight ever, he looked behind and the Admiral was fast asleep too. She was awoken and split away from the Captain since they were sitting separately – another perk if you fly Ryan Air, the Admiral had already, disembarked, gone through border control and picked up her bags by the time the Captain’s tarmac bus arrived.

Promptly figuring out how to get into town, the duo hopped on the first metro train and headed in to the City.  Disembarking from the train both the Admiral and Captain were in instant awe of the landscape they saw before them. The buildings, were magnificent, in front of them a colonial building and next to it a bull fighting ring. As they walked toward their accommodation the grandeur of the buildings started to impress them even more, this is what they had expected from Barcelona. The architecture, a clear demonstration of what they had in mind when they thought of Spain.

Finally reaching the place of stay, they were already impressed by the city, which was much quieter and much more authentic then the megacity they had visited previously (not counting Ibiza – that place was not a city but rather a giant playground). After some initial confusion regarding the instruction of how to get in to check in, they were able to figure it out and get into their apartment. Worth a shout out, that the place the Admiral had booked was fantastic, and it had real, functioning Air Conditioning – the Captain was the happiest he had been the whole trip #princess.

Dumping their bags, they were off again, strolling around investigating the city, getting lost. Visually stimulated they found themselves at a happening plaza square, here the Captain tried the local Nut milk drink called Horchata, it was interesting, nutty, earthy, sweet. The exploration continued, they found a nice Steakhouse to eat where the Captain devoured a rack of ribs and the Admiral went taboo and had a steak. We hailed a cab and headed to the new part of the city, and one of the key reasons the Captain had chosen this place to visit. The national Science and Arts district.

Arriving at the Cinta de Musea, did not fail to disappoint, it blew all of the expectations the Captain had set for himself. A complete contrast to the heart of the city in which they had been exploring. The District appeared like they had taken a space craft and landed on another planet. Straight out of a sci-fi movie it was as if they had taken a time machine into the future. There is no proper way to describe the feelings of awe and astonishment, neither is there a way to describe the landscape they saw before them. With the sun setting in the background, it looked like a place that Isaac Asimov would write about in his books.

As time was running late they would have to visit the science museum another day and dedicate the remaining hours to the Oceanographic, or the Aquarium. This Aquarium was the largest in Europe and it was AWESOME, sea creatures from near and far from, Jellyfish to Sharks, Penguins to Beluga Whales, the visit was informative and truly special, it also managed to gross out the captain with the Sea slugs, as well as almost cause an heart attack as he saw an lobster from underneath and thought of a facehugger (Alien Movie refrence).  The finale of the visit would go down as one of the key memories of the trip, watching a entertainment spectacular dolphin show, which included synchronised swimming, break dancing, singing and of course Dolphins doing some pretty hectic stuff. A magical end to a phenomenal visit.

Day two started with a glass of fresh Valencian Orange juice made from the famous Valencian oranges, it was refreshing and delightful as well as being very sour, it left your mouth feeling like you have just eaten a sour pineapple. Both the Admiral and Captain are fans of sour, so this suited their palate perfectly. They then joined the walking tour of the city, which took them to the old quarter church, which was built on the remains of the Muslim Mosque, they saw how the Muslims introduced a court to the city, used to make decisions on how water rights were distributed (still in action today and forms the Spanish constitution).

 Next up was the Silk Markets, believed to be the first bank in Europe where Merchants got loans, where we sat the tour guide explained was the gallows where, people that could not pay the loans were hung. She then also explained the story about how people would bring their children here and abandon them, asking them to stare at a building to see a goose lay golden eggs whilst they did a runner, hoping someone would take their children in and use them as apprentices.

The tour then took them to see Europe’s Narrowest building (initially freestanding but now with building support) with a remarkable width of 1.47 meters wide. Lastly visiting the Market, which was stated to be the largest market block in Europe. Here the Captain and Admiral devoured fruit, had an Avocado for lunch, and bought a bag the size of their heads of Sunflower seeds. They also learnt about the specialty of the region the Valencian Paella, which unlike common Spanish belief has no seafood and contains Rabbit and Chicken.

Departing the tour they headed straight to the cathedral, On the tour they had learnt two very fascinating facts about this place, the first being that it contained St Vincent’s right arm, when he was killed by the king all his body parts were distributed around Europe to stop one place holding its remains and forming a following. The second being it is believed to hold the Holy Grail, the Cup that Jesus used as part of the first Communion. The Captain headed in and slowly made his way through the tour listening to all the audio guide describe what they were seeing in front of them, the importance of the church, they then saw the preserved arm in its glass case. Finally, after exploring all the checkpoints the Admiral and Captain enter a room, in the front center a glass case holding a chalice, this is where the Captain and Admiral sat and prayed. The wars fought over the cup, the people killed had us sitting and admiring it in wonderment. Finishing the visit and still carrying goosebumps they visited the Silk markets and explored Europe’s first bank from the inside.

Content and feeling filled with learnings of history the duo headed back to the future. They headed back to the science and arts city, this time to visit the science museum. Once again, the Captain could not contain his excitement, this had been on his list for a while. Like a kid in a candy shop he dragged the Admiral on to see the Tesla exhibit, Space exhibit, the technology exhibit and finally the dinosaur exhibition. The interactive exhibits made the Captain a very happy chappie as he rushed to beat the children and get a go. They remained in the building until it was closing time and time to leave.

Like the Museums the day was coming to a close and it seemed that the avocado they had eaten for lunch was well digested.  They headed to check out the Central Market which had been converted into a Food court, here we loitered but the Captain knew where the Admiral’s heart was, and it was calling for the ocean.

They headed to the beach and to the famous restaurant called– La Pepica, an establishment dating more than 100 years. Despite it almost being 11pm the place was very busy. The walls littered with all the celebrities that had visited the dining halls, from famous soccer players to bullfighters and presidents. Here they sat by the beach and ordered a Venetian Paella with Rabbit and Chicken, which took a good hour to arrive. Both the Admiral and Captain were not impressed, they found it very bland and from the previous Paellas they had eaten, it tasted very mediocre. Slightly disappointed they got an Ice-Cream and walked along the beach soaking up the atmosphere, the disappointment of the dinner faded as they were absorbed by the place they were at. Strolling along it was time to leave. With that we they left a little piece of their hearts in the small town of Valencia.