DAY 2
Our plan was to have a small lunch and dos copitas de vino at Mercado Central ;) Then on to exploring the centre.
Useful tip: do not forget that the Spanish have (and like) their siesta. If you want to see the market in its 'full bloom' avoid coming here in the early afternoon. At 1pm we mostly saw the sellers packing their stuff up :D
It was around noon when we finally set foot outside. We planned another walk for that day (old town this time) but we were a bit skeptical after the day 1. What we saw and what I thought:
1) Plaza de la Virgen - really nice square, I just forgot to have a closer look at the fountain, I saw pictures from that side of the square and their beautiful - we just did the other side...also first time we saw Horchata - did not know what it was and with Telchac not trusting dairy products abroad :D we (meaning he) said we weren't going to try it (actually I just remembered we saw it the day before at the Art and Sciences Centre but they did not have it labelled so we had no idea :D).
2) Mercado Central - everything (that was not packed already :D) looked delicious - some of the fish a bit disgusting but still fresh :D Bocadillas, frutas, verduras, everything - except for a take-away glasses of wine. They sold the bottles of course, but we just wanted to freshen up. Which we could do in the only bistro there was, if it wasn't for the lack of chairs (meaning it was full :D).
3) Plaça de l'Ajuntament - large square - you could say "yes, another square" but the buildings around this one were just unbelievable. It takes you to Central America, you don't even think you're in Europe. If you take Carrer de les Barques, it leads to the beautiful building of the CaixaBank (all the most amazing buildings were banks, coincidence? ;)).
4) La Casa de Guardiola - it may be because it was our last stop and it was hot AF outside but this was nice (not amazing or perfect, "just" nice). I do not regret going there but if you're into really AMAZING stuff and you do not want to "waste" time for just one colorful building you can skip this one. However, I'm glad we did not because we found this amazing patisserie where they had absolutely delicious muffins that you couldn't resist (it's just across the road, can't remember the name).
From there we headed back to the hotel (we hailed the taxi when it stopped at the traffic light - I felt so New York-ish :D) and were deciding where to go for the famous paella. We (I) wanted to go somewhere where they KNOW how to do it properly - being a paella-virgin I refused to eat anything not authentic :D. After browsing TA for a while we agreed on Flor de Valencia which was not far and had great reviews - btw it had great reviews for a reason!
We stayed quite long and when going back (after midnight) we were amazed how many people were still outside. I don't know how the Spanish do it. I can barely wake up on a work-day without being out till midnight. Maybe it's all the heat, I don't know - please share if you have an explanation for me :D and come back next week for the day 3 and 4. CU then!
1) Plaza de la Virgen - really nice square, I just forgot to have a closer look at the fountain, I saw pictures from that side of the square and their beautiful - we just did the other side...also first time we saw Horchata - did not know what it was and with Telchac not trusting dairy products abroad :D we (meaning he) said we weren't going to try it (actually I just remembered we saw it the day before at the Art and Sciences Centre but they did not have it labelled so we had no idea :D).
2) Mercado Central - everything (that was not packed already :D) looked delicious - some of the fish a bit disgusting but still fresh :D Bocadillas, frutas, verduras, everything - except for a take-away glasses of wine. They sold the bottles of course, but we just wanted to freshen up. Which we could do in the only bistro there was, if it wasn't for the lack of chairs (meaning it was full :D).
3) Plaça de l'Ajuntament - large square - you could say "yes, another square" but the buildings around this one were just unbelievable. It takes you to Central America, you don't even think you're in Europe. If you take Carrer de les Barques, it leads to the beautiful building of the CaixaBank (all the most amazing buildings were banks, coincidence? ;)).
4) La Casa de Guardiola - it may be because it was our last stop and it was hot AF outside but this was nice (not amazing or perfect, "just" nice). I do not regret going there but if you're into really AMAZING stuff and you do not want to "waste" time for just one colorful building you can skip this one. However, I'm glad we did not because we found this amazing patisserie where they had absolutely delicious muffins that you couldn't resist (it's just across the road, can't remember the name).
From there we headed back to the hotel (we hailed the taxi when it stopped at the traffic light - I felt so New York-ish :D) and were deciding where to go for the famous paella. We (I) wanted to go somewhere where they KNOW how to do it properly - being a paella-virgin I refused to eat anything not authentic :D. After browsing TA for a while we agreed on Flor de Valencia which was not far and had great reviews - btw it had great reviews for a reason!
We stayed quite long and when going back (after midnight) we were amazed how many people were still outside. I don't know how the Spanish do it. I can barely wake up on a work-day without being out till midnight. Maybe it's all the heat, I don't know - please share if you have an explanation for me :D and come back next week for the day 3 and 4. CU then!