Coffee, Roman remains and Burning Buildings

During my time in Valencia we celebrated a fair few teachers birthdays, and had house parties in our flats. Here is one such gathering of teachers!

Emma and I wanted to try the local drinks, one of my favourite discoveries was condensed milk. A Cafe Bombon as it turns out is in fact a cold coffee shot, a glass with ice, and a sachet of condensed milk. Heaven on a hot day.

In the photo on the left you can see the coffee and condensed milk on the bottom before I stirred it. Yum! 

On the right is an extremely viscous hot chocolate, although it tasted rather nice it was very rich and I felt quite sick afterwards.

I then visited the very foundations of Valencia, sunk deep into the earth were the old Roman baths, their foundations laid bare for us to see. A couple of human skeletons made the place all the more interesting.

Additionally the well (left) was very deep and well made, but it was the pit (right) which caught my attention. Dug beneath a Roman road, it was apparently part of a ritual, an offering pit where coins and other items were thrown in and then it was deliberately filled, perhaps to bring the site good luck or strength.

This coinage hoard found hidden and buried also struck me. Overall it was a small but interesting museum. And it was free on Sunday!

Just a normal day at work, when the building opposite you is burning down and your students start to flee in panic...but were we allowed to stop teaching? Never!

The next weekend Jess (my roommate) and I went for an awesome lunch. Spanish restaurants often have a menu del dia 'menu of the day' which is a set price menu which is usually a three course meal for a cheap price (in this case ten Euros) with a couple of choices for each course, entree, main and dessert. And a drink too!

We started with a delicious fresh salad, rather Italian in style. Fresh tomatoes and thick slices of mozzarella drizzled in a rather delicious and sharp vinaigrette. There was also the option of lasagna if we had wanted. We washed it down with lemon Fanta which is in fact rather tangy and nice - like lemonade but more lemony.

Our main was this delicious gourmet burger. There was also the option of chicken breast with grilled bacon and brie - some of the other customers had it and it looked mouthwatering. Our own choice was however one of the nicest burgers I've ever had (although not quite so good as Jamie Oliver's burger that I shall never forget.)

And for dessert, Jess had a chocolate torte with dark chocolate so rich I would have died, and I had a delicious meringue and caramel tart. The caramel was gooey and amazing, the meringue like a cloud. Perfect. 

San Vincente Martir

As I was wandering central city one day, I came across a procession with a marching band playing stirring music. It turns out this was the San Vincente Martir feast day,  the patron Saint of Valencia. 

He was martyred under the Emperor Diocletian around the year 304, killed as part of the persecution against Christians and for how he spoke up for his church. After dying for his sufferings, it was said that ravens protected his body until his followers could recover him and bury him. 

To this day he is invoked  by sailors, vintners and brick-makers.

 Regardless it was rather awesome to come across people dressed in such wonderful costumes and even being transported by horse and carriage. 

Somber trumpets followed the procession, and the people lining the street threw Rosemary and Orange tree sprigs onto the street - why I don't know.

Some of the last in the procession bore this flag, although why I don't know. I was pretty happy to have accidentally stumbled across such a cool celebration. 

It ended in Plaza De la Reina as with great ceremony they all entered the church. 

More Sightseeing in Valencia

My next weekend of note was when I took a Saturday to go off exploring again, with one of my students who I had made friends with. Nuria was really nice, and she knew all the places to go! Nothing like local knowledge, plus I got to learn abstract Spanish words along the way, like 'roof' (techo if you were wondering).

We went and looked at some more important buildings in Valencia, and admired the architecture.

 

The photo on the left shows the typical type of architecture of central Valencia. It reminded me a little of Montpellier. On the right is one of those stereotypical European photos that I couldn't resist, old architecture in the background, and a moped sitting in front. The best part is  that just opposite this is the bar us English teachers frequented (only 5 minutes walk from the school, on the way home and only a euro a beer, how could we resist!)

 

One of the best things about Valencia is that while yes- it is a city and everyone lives in apartments with no gardens - there are little parks dotted around the city, just in case the giant ex-river Turia turned massive park cutting the city in two isn't enough for you. They are  usually quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but still central so it was like stepping into a haven. Orange trees and fountains usually feature, and they are a lovely refuge from the heat.

 

My stereotypical European photo of coffee- but man is it good coffee!  Usually only about a euro, it has the perfect combination of milk and coffee. Normal sized coffees are always too milky for me, and just black coffee is too bitter; the Spanish 'cafe con leche' - a coffee shot with a little milk poured in- is just perfect. 

On the right you can see the nice shirt I bought for myself - it was only ten euro! How could I resist?

Plaza Del Reina, 2 minutes walk from the Acadamy I worked at.

The view from the top of the tower

One of my favourite places was the Longa de la Seda (the Silk exchange) built in the 15th C when Valencia was at the height of its commerce and trade.

 

The area the market was held in for trade. Beautiful pillars and a gorgeous marble floor made this huge room spectacular. 

Upon entering through the gates, you had to go though a beautiful stone courtyard of fountains and orange trees to reach the trade center.

After a tiring but enjoyable day, we stopped for tapas, to rest our legs and feed our hungry stomachs. I love tapas because you get to try such an array of things. We had patatas bravas (cubes of potato in a slightly spicy tomato sauce) .

Also another dish of potatoes with jamon and fried eggs (left), and bread with a delicious tomato herb spread and drizzled in honey (right). Sounds strange but was actually perfectly delicious! We washed it down with Spain's ubiquitous cerveza - beer!

 

Explorations of Valencia

I think one of the main things I like about Valencia is how colorful it can be. The juxtaposition between the long dusty roads and dried pebbled paths fringed by sudden plush green grass and trees. The orange trees and fountains, the typically bright painted houses, the colors of the food! 

The left-hand photo shows a typical little Valencian street, the photo on the right shows the tucked away little bakeries and shops that pop out at you from these little streets so unexpectedly! 

On my wanders I cam across this street in Russafa, and the bright colors and little balconies made instantly my favorite in Valencia. 

  At the city centre one comes across all the plazas, winding streets and churches that make Valencia so beautiful. Even though the old center isn't very large, it is definitely worth wandering through. 

Plaza De la Virgin can be seen behind me in the photo on the left - during the Fallas a giant effigy of the Virgin Mary is built here, and then covered in real flowers. The fountain represents the River Turia. On the right is Valencia Nord, the very pretty lemon-colored train station. 

A closer photo of the Plaza. The Cathedral of Santa Maria, Valencia's most important church dominates the plaza, which has been used since Roman times. In the background you can see the El Miguelete (The tower off to the right) which was built in the 14th and 15th C and is 63 meters tall.

The view of the Church and important governmental building from the other side. The yellow cordoned off railing area on the courtyard may not look interesting, but in fact look down into the foundations of the old Roman Baths that once stood here. Unfortunately due to it being winter and I suppose not tourist season, they were covered up for maintenance work. 

Another of my favourite historical structures is this, the Torres de Serranos. This fortified gatehouse is all that remains of the once impressive wall that protected Valencia city. Built in the 14th C, this is the largest Gothic city gateway in all of Europe. The beautiful rooms within this structure were used as everything from important meeting rooms to meet foreign dignitaries, to prison cells to the nobility of Valencia. 

 Climbing up the gatehouse (free on a sunday!) was a hot and tiring job, the sun was beating down and the stairs were never-ending, but it was worth it for the beautiful stone moulding and carvings.

Some randomly interesting things in Valencia. The typical provincial Spanish restaurant on the left (I won't lie, the meat smells like cat-food and doesn't appeal to me) and on the right, the inside of the Cathedral, sunlight streams in and it's not too difficult to believe that the cup that holds pride of place here is indeed the Holy Grail it is professed to be.

 

At the end of Calle Colon, the central shopping street of Valencia, lies the train station of Valencia Nord, and next to it, Plaza de Toros. The Bull-fighting ring. Designed in 1850, it's not the most attractive building, but it's interesting, and an integral part of Valencian - and Spanish - history. 

 Colon Market was constructed in 1916 and due to its modernist architecture has been declared a National Monument. I personally thought it was rather stunning, and enjoyed the many little cafes and shops tucked away within it. 

It was here that Hot Chocolate was redefined for me -not a milk that tasted chocolatey as I had had all my life, but rather a thick liquid chocolate with a hint of milk flavor to it. Not the straight chocolate you dip churros (deep fried pastry covered in sugar and sometimes cinnamon) into (which is nice for dipping but a bit of a death by chocolate to drink in my opinion) but just a simply amazing Hot Chocolate. All others are ruined for me now. Did I mention there were waffles involved too?

 I came across this street art in my wanderings of the little alleys in the Old City. The doors were in fact real, half-rotten and very old wooden doors. The bicycle and the scene behind the doors were painted on. It's difficult to tell where the physical parts and the painting parts end and begin, which I thought was really beautiful, and so typically random of Spain to simply stumble across.