SPAIN: VALENCIA

Another weekend means another weekend day trip! I spent my Friday visiting Valencia with my friend Karly! We had an early morning train ride, so we were a bit tired.

I finally remembered to pack a deck of cards in my day bag, so we played 6-Handed Golf and Rummy. Obviously, I dominated. Besides that, we also read our books. I'm currently reading "Fourth Wing," which was highly recommended.

Once we got to the Valencia train station, it was about a 20-minute walk to a breakfast place I found, Milk and Butter. It was funny because we were talking about how a 20-minute walk in Europe is nothing, but walking twenty minutes back in the US seems impossible. 

The walk was beautiful, and palm trees were everywhere. It was a little colder than what we were expecting, but it was still super sunny.

Valencia is known for two things: oranges and paella. So, we started off our morning with a mimosa made with fresh orange juice and eggs benedict, both of which were so delicious!

We had another 20-minute walk to our next location after breakfast, but we had a few pit stops along the way. My two favorite stores in Spain just happened to be right next to each other along the way. Karly and I quickly ran into both and ended up getting a few things. Oops!

Finally, we made it to the Central Market of Valencia, the biggest market in Spain. 

There were tons of vendors, with every type of food you could think of. 

The fruit was the best part; it looked so fresh and delicious. Karly and I decided to get a bunch of strawberries and two Valencian oranges. 

Once we finished at the market, we took an Uber to the City of Arts and Sciences. It has a bunch of abstract buildings, some of which have greenhouses and aquariums inside. 

The exteriors of the buildings were so pretty and intricate. I would've loved to go inside the buildings to see the aquarium and other exhibits, but we didn't have enough time, and the tickets were a little expensive. I really hope I can come back to see it someday.

Nearby was the beach, so of course, we had to see it for ourselves. 

The sun was out, but don't be fooled; it was windy and a bit chilly. 

We didn't let it stop us. We changed into our suits and relaxed on the beach for a while.

While at the beach, we enjoyed our fruit. We let them sit for a little too long, and the strawberries were a bit warm. But the oranges were amazing, until I dropped one of them in the sand without the rind.

As the afternoon went on, it started to get colder, so we packed up and tried to find a restaurant to get paella. We had two issues: either the restaurant was open and extremely fancy, or it was closed due to siesta. So, we had slim pickings. I ended up finding this paella place called es.paella.

Was the paella super authentic? No. But was it still good? Absolutely! We got two big glasses of sangria and took our time enjoying dinner before we had to go back to the train station to head home.

Best Part of the Trip: I loved seeing the City of Arts and Sciences. I wish we would've stayed longer or gone inside one of the buildings.

Worst Part of the Trip: When I dropped my orange into the sand. I wish I brought more back to Madrid to eat because they were the best oranges I've ever had.

Overall Thoughts: It was a great day! With the semester slowly coming to a close, it's been nice to have two low-key day trips to experience other parts of Spain. This was officially my last trip before summer! It is absolutely crazy how quickly the semester has gone by. I cannot believe I have to leave Spain in less than 2 weeks.