Visitors, Valencia and Vino

Allison, Mom and Patty arrived in Sevilla on Thursday (the 10th).  I met them at the airport and we took the airport bus to their hotel, which was strategically located just three blocks from the bus stop.  I can say 'just' because I hadn't been traveling for 17 hours and wasn't lugging a full suitcase, bag, and jacket those three blocks. They checked in, but I couldn't stay with them as I had to get back to Alcalá for two grueling hours of work. After Allison packed an overnight bag, we headed for another bus stop and left our mothers to nap/fend for themselves.

It just so happened that we arrived in Alcalá with enough time for Allison to take a nap. And so that she could have total peace and quiet I graciously left to go for a short run. After taking showers, we headed to school.

Allison was lucky enough to get to sit in on my two classes (gracias José y Penélope!).  In fourth year they were discussing music and personalities with gerunds so we listened to four different songs from four different genres that used gerunds. (Sort of- I messed up a little, but whatever....the Beastie Boys Fight for Your Right (to Party), John Mayer Dreaming with a Broken Heart, Neil Sedaka Breaking Up Is Hard to Do and one other from Van Halen, I think.) The students listened and filled in the missing gerunds and then discussed what type of personality the person who likes that song might have. (Surprisingly not as torturous of a lesson as usual with that class. The Beastie Boys and Neil Sedaka in  must be a magical combination.) In second year they were working on using comparing words. They had to compare the housing, leisure activities, people, clothing, and food of the US and Spain. Yes, this group also thought we eat a lot of hamburgers, thatt we are very patriotic and that we live in wooden houses with gardens.

After class we walked back home made some risotto and talked a lot in English. Allison finally got a chance to lay her weary head down around 10. I think Megan and I finally went to bed at 2 AM.

Later Friday morning I got up to run a few miles (while Allison tried to adjust to the loss of 7 hours of sleep). We had to be ready by 10:30 to meet Patty and Roxy at the bus stop in Alcalá. Their mission was to walk to the bus stop in Sevilla, get on a bus to Alcalá and get off the bus in Alcalá when they saw us. It might sound sort of easy, but consider that they don't speak the language and have never ridden the bus to Alcalá so they really have no way to judge when they have arrived. Two buses came and went and they didn't show up. The next bus would come in 20 minutes. I decided that if they weren't on that bus we would have to think of a Plan B. To waste time Allison and I went to the grocery store near the bus stop to buy water. Back at the bus stop, another bus rounded the corner and stopped at the bus stop. Seated in the back and unaware that they had arrived were Patty and Roxy. I waved them off them bus.  Apparently the bus driver had locked his keys in the bus and had to call for reinforcement to get back in and start the route. Likely story.  

They also informed me that during their night on their own they broke two cardinal rules for travel abroad: 1. Never eat at a restaurant with pictures of the food posted on a poster/sign outside the restaurant (the nicer the pictures, the worse the food) and 2. Don't buy food/drink that you can get in the US. It just will not taste the same and you will be disappointed. It is best to find your favorite beverage/food from this country instead.

Anyway, we made the long trek from the bus stop to the school, making a short pit-stop at the piso to get the cake Megan's student had baked for her (She didn't mean to leave it there. She knows we can't be trusted with sweets). Through town and up the hill to school we went. Megan helped with a tour of the classrooms and we peeked into the office to meet the teachers and enjoy a piece of Megan's student's cake (it was quite delicious).

Then we walked around the castle area (by the school) a little bit before heading back to the piso. I packed for Valencia while Mom and Patty tried to turn the TV to the English mode and Allison tried to nap on my bed. When I was finally packed we walked to a restaurant in Alcalá for some tapas (el Pájaro Azul for those of you who know Alcalá). At some point we realized that the plane left at 5 PM instead of the 6 PM departure I had been planning for. So, we went into rush mode. After lunch we ran to the piso to pick up my suitcase and then ran to the bus stop.  In Sevilla we ran to the hotel, grabbed the rest of the suitcases and rushed to fetch a taxi. The taxi driver made a dramatic display to show us that our suitcases were too heavy and too big to all fit in the trunk of his taxi. (He used the word, 'joder' I remember that.)  So, we were forced to take two taxis (two taxis for the price of two!). We made it to the airport on time and even had time to sit and relax for a bit (because the plane was delayed; we weren't that early).

Eventually we got on the plane and arrived in Valencia after just one hour. In Valencia we obtained some maps from the Tourist office, conveniently located inside the airport itself. We decided to be brave (and frugal) and take the metro to the hotel- what could possibly go wrong?  I looked at the map of the metro and decided that the red line looked like our best bet. My little ducklings had complete faith in my decision. And so they followed me onto the red line train. We got off at the 'Colon' stop and walked the four blocks to the hotel. No, really, that is what actually happened. I have a degree in Urban Geography. I even took a course called Europe: A Geographic Perspective. Neither helped me find our way in Valencia, but they are interesting facts and it seemed like the right time to tell you them.

Now, after we checked in and settled a bit we headed out to the streets of Valencia in search of dinner.  We came upon this restaurant:

It was about 8:30 so the restaurant was packed. There was not one other group of guiris so I figured it must be a good place to eat. Although it was hard to tell if we could just sit down or if there was a host/hostess of some sort and we had a hard time getting anyone's attention, we did eventually get a table. Mom and Allison each ordered an Alhambra beer (and liked it!) while Patty and I went for the wine. Here are a few of the things we ate:

After dinner we called it a night.

The next morning I got up to run. On the map it looked as if there was a nice long boulevard on far from the hotel on which to run. I found it after three miles (most likely not the shortest route there). I was sure I could find the short route back to the hotel from there. Five miles later I found it.

The four of us exited the hotel at noon. Our first stop was the nearby tourist office. We picked up more maps and got some ideas of what to do on Sunday (because most things are closed on Sundays). Armed with an adequate amount of glossy paper to call ourselves tourists, we began our site-seeing journey.

The woman in the tourist office had suggested a moscato tasting that was going on on Quart street, so we headed in that direction. Along the way we found a place to eat lunch that was near Mercado Central.

View from our table of Mercado Central, the largest in Europe.

Course one- scrambled eggs with mushrooms.

Course two- paella with rabbit and chicken.

Continuing on our journey, we passed by the Lonja de Seda and stopped in and amazingly the entry fee was 0€. It is an example of gothic architecture and apparently has been declared a World Heritage Monument by UNESCO.

La Sala de Contratación, built starting in 1482.

Photo I took right before we got yelled at by
a security guard for hanging outside the wall.

And then we walked and walked and walked.

The Quart Towers

The moscato tasting wasn't as exciting as we thought it would be once we got there, so we went on our way. We went to one museum, but it was just closing. After walking a little further, we made it to the Institut Valenciá d'Art Modern and took a look around (for students like me the cost was just 1€). Next on our walking tour was a candy store and a tower.

Fun with shadows. 

You'd be doing the same if you were
hanging off the side of the tower.

Once again my entry is getting wordy and picturey (not a real word, but it should be), so the abridged version will follow.  

On Sunday I found the another awesome running area.  This may have been what I was looking for in the first place. It was a path for running/biking/walking that ran for miles through the city, from the Science Museum past the towers and beyond.

As for site seeing, we used the metro to get us to the Mediterranean sea. In an attempt to take a more interesting photo of me and the sea, I decided that I was going to do a handstand on the shore. It has been several years since my gymnastics days, but I think we would all agree that doing a handstand is a lot like riding a bicycle; once you can do it, you can always do it, right?  I practiced on the beach to make sure I could do something that resembled a handstand. I think you know what happened when it came time for the actual photo shoot. Yes, I ate lunch with wet shoes, socks and pants.  But the photo is so much more interesting, so I think it was worth it. (*Photo coming soon)

The Mediterranean Sea

We ate lunch at a restaurant on the beach where we waited forever for rabbit and chicken paella (again). At least the poor service gave me a chance to practice my Spanish. We also made it to the Ciudad de Las Artes y Las Ciencias just before it closed. We had one half hour to check it out, but at least we can say we went to one of the iconic locations in Valencia.

The Ágora.

In front of the Hemisfèric (IMAX cinema and
digital projections) in my new 10€ coat.

We left Valencia on Monday morning to continue the tour of Spain in Sevilla.