Spain - Two More Weeks on the Costa Azul - Part 2

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After a nice break at the beach, we headed north to our next big Spanish city, Valencia.  Still, on the coast, Valencia is the home of Paella, the Spanish delicacy, and a beautiful, very large city with loads of cultural heritage sites.  It was a five-hour drive on the tollway reaching the city mid-afternoon.  We were met at our apartment by our hostess, Sonya, who showed us around and also took us down the block to the parking garage.  Luckily we found a street space right in front of the apartment and since it was too good to lose, we never moved the car during our whole stay.  We had a large three-bedroom apartment, and as usual, it was perfect in every way, sparkling clean, nicely furnished and perfectly located.  We settled in quickly with a market trip to replenish supplies.

The bus stop on our block took us right into the city center in just five stops, and at $1.50 a trip, it was more economical than driving and parking.  We chose to wander the first day, and after a few hours in the historic center and a quick visit to the Spice Market building, we got onto the metro/bus system and headed west to the sea and the City of Arts and Sciences.  The architecture was so modern and fanciful, that it felt like we were on a foreign planet.  There we visit the science museum and enjoyed the sun.

We scheduled a free walking tour, our 42nd on this trip and thoroughly enjoyed our guide whose thick Italian accent speaking English was charming.  We wandered the old quarter and were introduced to many beautiful sites.  It was a Sunday and there were folk dances and costumes galore.

We took a day off and chilled a bit...Bobbie did her daily four-mile walk.  

We scheduled a bike tour for our last day in the city but got rained out, so we wandered a bit and did a bit of shopping at one of the large malls.

We departed on a six-hour drive to Barcelona.  We purposefully chose a location outside of the city in the village of Martorell (pronounced "Mar-tow-rey" and were pleasantly freaked out by the mansion we inherited for the week.  A fully restored main floor of a stately family home built in 1896 greeted us.  Our hostess, Anna, was quite proud and very amused by all of our oos and awes.  The place was furnished with exquisite antiques and art and in one of the bedrooms was a Dali original.  Wow.  We lived in splendor, though a bit cold at night, even with the heat on, for the next six days.

We drove into the city the next day for a walking tour of the city highlights.

Our second day we took an architectural tour of the Gaudi buildings ending in an outside tour of the Sagrada Familia Basilica.

We took a day off to rest.

On our fourth day, we booked a bike tour through the waterfront district that was refreshing and good exercise. Our guide was a transplanted Cuban fellow, charming and knowledgable and the day was bright and sunny, warm, and being a Sunday, packed with people.  It was interesting and fun weaving in and out fo the crowds on our bikes.