Long post alert consisting of my last two weekends sightseeing and experiencing some other parts of Spain!
Seville with Pedro
We got the train on Friday night and, after eventually finding and checking in at the extremely poorly signposted hostel, had time for a drink to start off the weekend.
On Saturday morning we visited the cathedral, the girada viewing tower and the alcazar in the lovely sunshine and real feel temp of 20 degrees even though it was the last day of November. Not sure if this is typical Seville weather or just climate change, but either way we weren't complaining too much. After a quick bite, we headed over the other side of the river (which reminded me of the bridge in Cologne for some reason), and checked out the Triana market. Whilst most of the stalls had finished for the day and were beginning to pack up, we still got a great idea of the atmosphere, since there quite a few people were eating and drinking at the bars there, just without the busyness of the market that would have been present earlier in the day. And yes I know that was an extremely poorly worded sentence but I can't think of another way to say it. We next headed back over the river to visit the museum of fine arts before heading for an earlyish tea which served meat for Pedro whilst I had some overpriced yet still very tasted stir fry smoked veg. The main event was still yet to take place - the Flamenco show which we'd booked before we came. It was absolutely super! Everything was just so Spanish I can't even give it justice with my mere description in words. The guitarist was incredible, the singers had such distinctive voices, the dancing itself was filled with passion and noisy stamping, and all of the men had long black hair. Everything worked so well together, and the locals in the crowd got quite involved shouting out "¡Olay Ramón!" very frequently. I was blown away by how fast he moved his feet. We finished the night off in typical Spanish fashion with a couple of beers and plenty of greasy crisps.
Sunday we visited the setas, which is a bizarre wooden structural moment in the centre of the city, where you can get the lift to the top and see some mediocre views of the city, especially because it was super cloudy and grey when we went which was a shame. By the time we arrived at Plaza de España things had brightened up, and we walked round the nearby gardens before heading for lunch. We spent the last hour in Starbucks hiding from the torrential downpour before catching the train home.
Valencia on my tod
I arrived on Friday morning because it was a fiesta meaning I could take advantage of the puente (long weekend). My first impressions were shaped by the 40 minute walk to the futuristic city of arts and sciences - if I'm being honest I thought it was a bit of a dump. But this impressions were soon dismissed as I arrived at the modern museums which struck me as very similar to how I imagine Sydney in Australia to be. I enjoyed the science museum a lot more than I thought I would because I'm not really the sciency type. It had a super interesting section about the brain and its ability to learn languages with lots of information and interactive activities and there was also a section about space exploration to Mars, which merely reinforced my opinion that space travel is an absolute waste of time and money. With night temperatures of -70, low levels of gravity, high levels of cosmic radiation, not to mention the lack of oxygen or water, it wouldn't exactly make for a homely environment in my opinion. But each to their own I guess. Anyway I digress. I next headed for lunch at a vegan restaurant called Nomit, where I had a fantastic lentil apple and cinnamon burger. Yes you heard me correctly and yes I was initially sceptical as well but I'm glad my curiosity won me over. After lunch I headed to the centre of the city where it struck me that it has fantastic infrastructure for cycling, with an abundance of bike lanes and places to hire bikes! At Mercat Colón gastro market I tried the local speciality of orxata and coca de llanda - a plant milk with a lot of sugar added tasting of liquid rice pudding and a simple but tasty loaf cake. My next destination was the Torre del Micalet which provided a reasonably challenging climb to the top and stunning views of the city. I next found myself getting lost in the beautifully narrow and twisty streets on the way to the famous Torres de Seranos. Before tea I spent a fair amount of time in the museo de bellas artes working up an appetite attempting to figure out what on earth artists in the late medieval period were looking at when they were painting because it certainly wasn't real people as we know them today. Good job I burnt all those calories standing and not appreciating most of the paintings because I had a super greasy burger for tea with some amazing alioli to dip my large portion of fries into. Mmm. After checking in at my hostel, I headed out to Jimmy Glass jazz club for a drink and some live jazz, which was unfortunately wasn't really to my taste so I didn't stay long.
Saturday began by being described as looking 16 by a Venezuelan man staying at the hostel - not the worst I've heard to be honest. Good job I had some fantastic vegan pastries for my breakfast from Manchegos to improve my mood. First on my list of things to see was the famous central market and it did not disappoint. Possibly the biggest market I've ever been to, with stalls for literally everything under the sun, including buy not limited to, bread, pastries, fresh fruit and veg, meat, fish, cheese, alcohol, tea and coffee, herbs and spices, nuts, beans and legumes, jams and preserves, turrón, tapas and breakfast food, and merchandise. It was so busy but the atmosphere was incredible! And that's their daily life. I next visited the UNESCO heritage site La Lonja and enjoyed earwigging a middle-aged British couple Mary and her husband trying to orientate their tourist map and attempting to pronounce Valencian names. The obligatory cathedral visit was better than most, with a really interesting free audio guide explaining the difference between the gothic, rennaissance, baroque and neoclassical styles to the building, and some cool bits about how the main alter piece is hidden behind a fake alter piece which opens up and a ritual of pregnant women walking around the cathedral 9 times, made all the more intriguing by being lucky enough to see a pregnant woman doing just that! I'm also glad I checked out the cathedral museum because I was pleasantly surprised by the archaeological site underneath the building which consisted of a roman burial site and sewers. Upon leaving the cathedral, I was lucky enough to stumble across some traditional Valencian dancing in la plaza de la virgen which was both awful and entertaining. After visiting the natural history museum which was basically a fossil museum and exploring the surrounding gardens, I decided to walk to the beach because I had some time to kill and it was 19 degrees. In December. Marvellous I know. I had another orxata and enjoyed watching a black cat and some surfers before walking back to grab some food and a coffee before my train home. I walked a total of 70,000 steps over the course of the weekend, which I reckon is about 50km. Not quite sure how I managed to walk this distance in 12 hours at the age of 14 on a Scouting hike challenge called Fenland 50. I was shattered by doing it over the course of two days.
In sum, Seville was a cross between Granada and Cologne and Valencia was a cross between Seville and Sydney. I would definitely recommend visiting both!
