Valencia Day 2

Just as I’m getting settled in here, I have to pack up and leave. But it’s the only place in Spain on this trip that was a new city for me, so I’m glad I had a chance to visit.I thought real hard this morning about exercising with the people in the video below but in the end, just went for another run.

Afterward, I decided to go to the Valencia beach. It’s in a not-great part of town, there was hardly anyone there, and a lot of the buildings, even the ones right on the water, are pretty dilapidated. Yet I saw plenty of very pale British tourists walking around acting as if this were a typical lively, normal beach scene. So, I don’t know, maybe I’m too picky. Also, on my way to the beach from the metro I saw a skinny guy with dreadlocks down to his waist talking to a bird. Not just talking but actually conversing with the bird. When he saw me, he gave me a “what are you looking at?” look. Honestly, he was right – who am I to judge?

These are some of the beachfront properties.

Since this is the hospital, my guess is that it’s important to be very careful when you’re on the beach.

The oil tanks and cranes at the end of the beach only detract from the ambiance if you look in that direction.

By far the nicest building in the whole neighborhood is this drive-through McDonald’s that is still under construction.

On the bright side, since every city with a metro has to put something on the train tickets, why doesn’t everyone do something like this?

Finally, I was walking around this evening and saw hundreds of people lined up outside the Central Market. Why? No one I asked seemed to know. So I got in line. Long story short, there is one day each year that the market opens in the evening so that all the vendors can prepare ready-to-eat food and sell it for the select few who make it in. I got in. When I left, there were still lines around the block of people waiting to be let in after enough people like me left to make room for them. Do I know exactly what was in what I ate? Not really. Do I care? Not really.



I also discovered today that it is so extremely hot and dry here that if I wash my t-shirt in the sink and put it outside in the sun, it dries completely in about 45 minutes. So if I were traveling just to Valencia, I think one shirt would do it.