The train to Valencia took us along the length of the Costa Brava, Spain's answer to the French Riviera and Italy's Campanian coasts. The views were gorgeous when not obscured by tunnels, and we arrived to Valencia in about 3 hours. The hotel was in Alboraya, just north of Valencia, and though it was not, as I had falsely concluded, on the beach, it was right near the metro that connected us to the city. When we arrived I was in the middle of some demonic grip of pain, so we hesitated to go to the beach, which was the pure plan for Valencia. When I decided it was time go in search of food, we took the metro to the city center and walked down the large park carved out by a river that has only recently been diverted from the city. We barely found founf- it was Sunday and they meant that very seriously. We at last did, however, and I started to feel better. We decided to keep walking through the park to find the new City fo Arts and Sciences, a series of massive public projects that have redefined the city in the past decade. They were great buildings, including a science center, art museum, aquarium, planetarium, and outdoor dinosaur park (!). I wasn't feeling 100% but we still managed to enjoy the evening, and on the way back from walking around all of the buildings we stopped at a playground modelled of of the Lilliputian episode of Gulliver's travels, that is when they have him tied down. The huge Gulliver statue was crawled over by dozens of children, revitalizing the literary image in a fun way.
The next day we took the morning to go to the beach, which was vast and beautiful, and on account of our arriving around 9 am, not terribly crowded. We got our fill and headed to Madrid.
We arrived in the evening to Madrid Atocha train station and erringly took a taxi to a hotel visible from the station. The hotel was very nice and right in the center of the art district. That night we went out for a nice dinner as an early birthday celebration for me.
The next day we headed straight for the Prado, the largest Spanish national museum, and second largest collection of European art only to the Louvre. We paid extra to see the special exhibit being shown on Turner, and went around to see the greatets works of the Spanish masters, namely El Greco, Velasquez, and Goya. We ended with the collection of French and Italian art, and exited after about three hours. We then went in search of food, and walked towards Plaza Mayor, the main square orignially constructed as an out-of-town meeting place, where we found good tapas. After lunch we wandered until finding a Churro shop, where we ordered the traditional spiral donuts with melted swiss chocolate. That night we ate at the hotel, as we had an early flight to Rome the next day, after which we would part ways for the time being.
Yea,beaches! They can always make one feel better. Did you play on the playground? What a neat idea.It sounds like ya'll have found many yummy places to eat on your trip. Pomai I hope your feet are recovering. But isn't it nice that in many of these countries you don't need a car or other transportation. Thanks again for sharing.
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