Eating Our Way Through Valencia- Pictures Included!

So we take the train into Valencia from Barcelona, and the weather here is even more beautiful. For some reason the streets are filthy though, and there are workers with brooms cleaning up beer cans and other trash from the sidewalks. Theresa, who studied there last summer, assures us that this is a little bit unusual and she's never seen Valencia like this before. After we put our stuff down at the hostel, we are all starving and decide to go get lunch. We stopped by some little pizza cafe which we did not choose very well because after 5 minutes we were in the shade and all freezing cold.

After some pizza and fanta, we decide to go to the church and climb up the stairs to see the view of the city. We were all blissfully happy for the next two hours as we enjoyed the sunlight and took pictures beneath the bell. At one point, the bell rang as we were standing under it for a picture which left us partially deaf for the next few minutes. This also meant it was time for another jumping picture, so we all posed under the bell as Theresa said "I feel like I'm taking a backstreet boys album cover."



We then climbed back down the narrow staircase and got gelato from Theresa's favorite ice cream stand. They even had donut flavor, which was a little too bizarre for our tastes. I got turron and ferraro roche, which was amazing. I told you, we ate our way through Spain.




That night we met up with Javier, one of Theresa's friends from last summer who lives in Valencia. On our way to meet him, Diana and I begin dancing in the courtyard near a fountain because we collectively decide that this would be a great place for a recital. Once we meet Javier, he took us to an international club (because we get free drink passes) where creepy Americans started talking to Diana and Kendall. Then we decided to leave and go somewhere a little more laid back. Javie takes us to a small little bar and orders us a pitcher of wine. Except, this is some special type of pitcher and he tries to explain it to Theresa as a bong. We all thing he's talking about a bong you smoke from, but he's trying to say it is like a beer bong. Anyway, we get it filled with white wine from nearby and apparently for this wine you are supposed to pour the wine straight from the pitcher to your mouth and then pass it on. Kendall hesitates to try it and after we chant her name and start a slow clap she gives it a try, only to completely miss her mouth. We are then determined to find these pitchers and start this tradition at UVA.

Day 2 is, once again, all about food. We wake up and go get churros con chocolate. Then we go to the market to find beautiful fresh strawberries. After that we are told to go to the streets at 2pm to see the fireworks. Apparently, every day for three weeks before this holiday in Valencia, they set off fireworks and everyone stops what they are doing to come drink beers and watch in the streets. All of the traffic is cut off, and there are men in ties with their cervezas just waiting for the show to begin (this explains the mess we saw the day before on the sidewalks). It is so loud, the city literally sounds like it is being bombed. It is unreal how many people just leave whatever they are doing to come see it. We wanted to drink beer while we watched but the chocolate from breakfast was just too much.



Theresa then goes to meet up with her host mom for lunch, while we go to lunch at a beautiful little cafe/chocolate shop. I'm pretty sure we went shopping after lunch (I'm writing this post based on my pictures), and once we see Theresa again it starts pouring. We go into a covered market to get out of the rain and then eat orxatas (pronounced horchata). We get very excited about this drink for three reasons.
1. it is a traditionally drink from Valencia...not something you would find other places
2. we will take any excuse to eat
3. it is the name of a Vampire Weekend song
The drink is made from some sort of nut that you soak for a while. I don't really care what it is, it is super refreshing and at this point I will take anything that doesn't involve chocolate.



We go back to the hostel to pass out for a little while and get ready for dinner (yes writing about this much food it making my stomach hurt). We have made reservations at a restaurant nearby for paella. They served us a huge batch of seafood paella in a very large pan. It took us about 20 minutes to down the whole thing and lick the bowl. After dinner we went to watch flamenco at a bar. Apparently it was a Kama Sutra bar with pictured tiles on the walls. We each got a glass of Sangria and waited for the show to begin. First a guitarist, a drummer, and two men singing performed. After a few songs, it was time for the dancer to come out. Out comes the largest male flamenco dancer I have ever seen. The whole thing was a little strange because he was doing womanly dances (lifting up his shirt so we could see his potbelly) and dancing on his toes. He was a great dancer, no disrespect intended, but it was just unusual. Then his friends came on the stage and started just improvising some flamenco. One guy was wearing athletic pants and his pants kept falling down as he was dancing. He was amazing though, and danced some more manly moves than his friend. The girl on stage was wearing overalls. I'm so excited they're coming back. Stephen Eure once made fun of me in 9th grade for wearing overalls to school. Apparently I was just a trendsetter.