Wednesday, November 20, 2013 @ 9:46 PM in 2013 Europe
Day 147
I took some cold meds last night before bed and ended up sleeping until 10am today. I was pretty shocked but woke up feeling pretty good. My voice is almost gone but that and some slight soreness are all that's left. I ate a quick breakfast and then went to the Mercado Central across the street and walked around. It seems a lot like La Boqueria in Barcelona but there's a lot less tourists walking around and the market is a lot larger. I'm going to go back tomorrow and buy some oranges, apples and probably some shrimp that I can cook up for dinner.
After I checked that out, I came back and made a quick sandwich before heading out to the free walking tour. It met at the Plaza de la Virgen which is just behind the big Valencia Cathedral. There were a bunch of school kids with huge measuring tapes trying to measure the size of the plaza. It was pretty funny to watch them completely block flow of the area by walking measuring tape across it.
The tour ended up being only myself and four others from the hostel so it was a nice small group. The guide lead us around the old city pointing out the history of some of the buildings as well as the history of Valencia itself. It wasn't quite as informative as I thought it would be but it was still pretty good.
Once the tour ended, our group went back to the hostel then went out and found some take-away paella from a place around the corner. I got some Paella Valenciana and Arroz de Banda. Both were pretty good but between the two I think I liked the Valenciana better. Everyone else got random types and everyone had their preferences on what they thought was best.
We all kinda went our separate ways for a few hours with the plan to meet up later to get some cheap tapas and beer. I hung out at the hostel and did some work and finished my book then relaxed in the lobby and talked with some of the other travelers for a while.
When everyone met up around 7:30 we set out and found a place where everything on the menu, including beers, was 1 euro each. You fill out paper with what you want, bring it up to a counter and pay for it, then they call your name when its ready. I got a few different types of sandwiches and a beer. They weren't really typical tapas, more just sandwiches but they were still really good. My favorite was a tortilla sandwich (tortilla being an egg/potato/onion cake, not the mexican style flour or corn tortilla). On the way back to the hostel I got some of the pumpkin donuts. They weren't fresh out of the fryer which made them not as good as I was expecting. I'll have to try some when I see them being made fresh.
Some of the other guys were going to head out and get more tapas then go to a big club but I declined on that since I'm still fighting the end of this cold. I think tomorrow I should be back to normal again which will be nice.
Teaser photos:
Tags: daily journal, spain, valencia
Posted from: Spain