A Valencia Orange a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Given the extreme amount of time spent hopping from one major city to the next during my Spring Break excursion, I decided that for Easter Break I wanted to take it a little bit easier and enjoy some of the finer things Spain has to offer. The decision was made to take a trip down south the visit the great city of Valencia, and it was well worth it. Valencia was almost like a tropical paradise- we were welcomed by warm weather, shining sun, and palm trees about every two feet. The intent was to have a nice relaxing break free of stress and take it as an opportunity to soak up the Spanish culture to the fullest extent. Before arriving in Valencia, however, I had another great opportunity at experiencing the language barrier in full swing. On the train ride into Valencia I sat next to a kind old man (who happened to have a bad case of a hangover) who unfortunately didn’t know a word of English, but decided to start numerous conversations with me. I surprised myself by responding in full Spanish, using everything I had been learning in Spanish class. It seemed like the language barrier, at least for Spanish, was starting to narrow. It was a pretty cool feeling being able to communicate with someone who didn’t know a single word of English.



Our first day in Valencia was spent walking and exploring the city from one edge to the next with no planned agenda. If there is one thing that Valencia succeeds in where Barcelona falls somewhat short, it is in the amount of green/park space it has scattered throughout the city. There were countless fountains everywhere, and combined with the warm weather Valencia seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. A considerable amount of time was spent our first day in Valencia at Santiago Calatrava’s Center of Arts and Sciences. The best description I can give for his complex of unique and gravity-defying buildings is that it was similar to an architectural “fun” land. In any case, it was definitely a must-see. Throughout our time in Valencia we visited Calatrava’s Arts and Sciences Center a total of about three times, including a trip to the aquarium to see a coordinated dolphin dance-show. Our second day in Valencia was spent renting bikes and trekking throughout the city to see how it compared to Barcelona. We were able to visit and spend some time at the beach and waterfront area, which seemed quite a big larger than that of Barcelona. Unfortunately our biking adventure was interrupted by a big thunderstorm that decided to roll in about halfway through the day. Riding through the streets of Valencia in the pouring rain (including about an hour delay to take cover at a gas station) wasn’t exactly the ideal situation, but it was fun nonetheless. For our last night in town we decided to pay a visit to the Valencia cathedral, which was nice to see in comparison to the other cathedrals throughout Europe. My favorite experience of Valencia, however, was surprisingly the train ride back to Barcelona. I sat next to an old man from Cuba by the name of Tony, who decided to start a conversation with me about art and politics. All in all we chatted for about two hours, half in English and half in Spanish. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Overall my trip to Valencia was a total success- I got the good old fashioned R&R that I was looking for, and couldn’t have been happier.