Nothing much happened yesterday besides class, so I’m
skipping straight to today, this last day of January…
Today was my day off, so when I woke up around 9 and saw the
sunlight and blue sky peaking through the curtains, I decided to just go ahead
and start my day and seize as much of it as I could! Here’s what I did:
Shower, breakfast, packed my daypack. Strolled out into the city around 10, and
headed out to my favorite place: El Rio.
When I got there, though, I realized that I’ve already seen El Rio and most all
that it has to offer. This day, I decided, should be reserved for true exploring—going places I’ve never been,
seeing things I’ve never seen. So I
turned around right there at the entrance to the park, scanned my options, and
headed off down the road in a new direction.
My first good decision of the
day…
From that road, I intersected with another, which I noted as
one of the few two-way streets I’ve seen anywhere in this city. Most of the roads here are small, one lane,
one-way streets, but this one was about six lanes wide, two-ways, and with lots
and lots of traffic. A main artery
through the city, I thought—must be important, probably has a lot to see. Add to that that the median dividing the
traffic was a great, elaborate walking trail with trees and flowers and fountains and, of
course, playgrounds, and the decision was made for me—this would be my first
turn.
So I walked and walked and enjoyed taking in the sites and sounds of the city’s morning. The traffic was heavy and chaotic on both
sides, with cars and scooters and bikes zipping and swerving and honking all
around. But amidst all that—literally in the middle of all the madness—my walk
was as peaceful as could be: just a stroll on my day off. The morning air was cool but the sun warmed
my face, and just looking around at the life all around me—the people in their
bustle, the trees and flowers waving in the wind, the pigeons in the fountains,
the dogs prancing aside their owners on the sidewalk—I felt the city pulsing,
flowing, breathing…alive in itself, the sum of its parts. It was an extraordinary feeling. Here’s what it looked like:
 |
| Was this guy a magician?! |
When the park in the median ended, I crossed over to the
sunny side of the street and continued on the sidewalk. Right away, down one of the many, narrow
side-streets, a mass of people caught my eye.
The women walking beside me pointed and hurried ahead in that
direction, so I figured I would follow along and see what it was. The closer I got, the louder the crowd was,
and not until I was right in the middle of the chaos did I realize what it was: the herd of people were shopping and this was a FLEA MARKET. Not sure if they call it that over here, but that's what it was: the sidewalks were lined with tents and
stands and all the vendors were yelling out their prices and best offers and
doing their best to literally pull
you in. I tightened the straps on my backpack
and shoved my hands in my pockets and went along for the ride, just following
the crowd. Most of the stuff was
clothes, and unfortunately for me, almost entirely women’s. Tons of scarves and boots and hats and
shoes. Fur coats and wool socks and baby
clothes. And lots of underwear, too,
which I thought was kind of weird. Aside
from the girls’ stuff, I stopped off and looked at a few stores that were
pretty gender neutral: one that only sold
slippers; a cheap watch stand; an African jewelry shop; an electronics tent;
and two places that sold Spanish flags and touristy stuff. Nothing much caught my eye and the prices
were honestly not great (I think because they knew I was American and wanted to
rip me off) but I enjoyed talking and doing my best to barter with the shop
owners amidst their advertising. I did
end up buying one small thing at the last shop I passed on the way out: a
Valencia soccer coffee mug. Two
euros. A good souvenir from a memorable
experience. Here’s the scene:
From the flea market, I found my way out of the maze of
alleys and back to the main road. I
continued on in the same direction and came across a few important landmarks
that will be good to know for the future.
First, I found the train station that I’ll have to use for any trips out of the city. I walked right in and was surprised that it
wasn’t crazy and busy. Nothing like the
Grand Central image I had in my head: only four or five trains wide, and the
people were all just sitting calmly on the benches reading the newspaper. I took a few pictures and checked out the
gift shop and then was on my way. Here’s
what it looked like:
And then right
next door, I found the Valencia bull-fighting arena! Big and round and really, really tall. Reminded me of the Coliseum in Rome. The poster on the ticket booth said that it
isn’t bull-fighting season yet, and that the first one will be during Las
Fallas—the big, famous, city-wide party/festival in March that draws people in
from all over the country. What an
experience that would be! Check it out:
From there, I headed back down another big road that I
figured ran more or less parallel to the other.
I passed by a few cool-looking candy shops and cafés and churches, until
I finally passed by the flea market again—this time on the other end—and made my way back to the median running down the main
road again. I took that all the way
until it ended at the Rio, where, remembering the sandwich, banana, and
clementine in my backpack, I decided to make my way to that mini-mountain at
the end of El Rio (the one with the great view of the city and the lake with
the swan boats) and spend a while there, enjoying the contrast to the city
behind me.
The walk through El Rio was very pleasant thanks to the
great weather, and as always, there were tons of people out running and biking
and playing with their dogs, so the people-watching was great. I walked slow and did my best to soak it all
up as best I could, and when I got to the end and picked out my spot in the
grass, I took off my shoes and ate my “almuerzo” (meal between breakfast and
lunch) and let the good vibes of the day wash all over me. It was such a great feeling that when I
finished eating, I laid down and closed my eyes and just lingered in that
almost-asleep stage for almost an hour.
Awesome. Not so awesome, though,
was being woken up by a giant, white, Great Dane licking my face! At first, as you can imagine, it was a little
scary—this HUGE, horse-looking thing standing over me, right in my face—but he
was friendly and full of energy so I couldn’t be too upset. His owners came by after him and apologized,
and I got to use my favorite Spanish phrase I’ve learned so far: “No pasa nada”
(nothing happened/don’t worry about it).
They smiled and continued on, and I took the cue to pack up my bags and
be on way, too. Here's the view I woke up to, though:
I walked along the boardwalk opposite the mini-mountain, stayed close to the lake, and fed the ducks some of the
leftover bread from my sandwich. The
path led me along the river feeding into the lake, under a cool, modern looking
bridge, past a big green space filled with younger kids playing soccer, and yet another super cool playground to add
to the list. (This city needs some kind
of award!) And at the end of it all, the
river ended (or started, actually) in a cool little waterfall that drowned out
the noise of the city and made a perfect spot to do some much needed reading on
a book I’ve been wanting to start for too long: James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I only got through the first twenty pages or
so, but the tranquility of the whole scene made it feel like I could have been
there all day.
Another great feeling. Here's what it all looked like:
So, feeling relaxed and refreshed, I packed up my things
again and started out on the walk back across the city. I decided to stay on the sidewalk of the road running
along side and overlooking El Rio, in
hopes that I would find a few other tantalizing streets to explore on my next
day off. The possibilities are endless...
When I got back to the dorms, I had missed the usual busy
time around 2, so the lunchroom was rather quiet. The cuisine for the day was a little
skeptical—some kind of potato-quiche thing and a Spanish version of country
fried steak—and I asked the Asian girl in front of me what it was and we joked
about it. Seeing as none of the other
Americans were there, I asked the girl if I could sit with her. Turns out, she’s an exchange student too—from
Japan—and this is his first semester in Valencia as well! She’s here studying Spanish just like me, and
we talked about what we each liked about the city and the school and the food
and the people and all that. We were
about the same skill level in terms of speaking/listening abilities, so it was
a pretty even conversation, with both of us having to ask the other to repeat
things and then overthink the conjugations when answering. It was cool, though—a good way to practice
speaking without the pressure of class and having to focus extra hard like it is talking to the locals.
After lunch, I went up to the room and took a much-needed
siesta. When I woke up, it was time for our group excursion for the day: a concert at the botanical garden that I
visited last week. Our teacher didn’t
specify what kind of concert, so I
was picturing a guy on a stool in the middle of the garden, playing guitar and
singing Spanish songs about nature! But
alas, this was not so. Instead, we
walked around to the garden’s little amphitheater on the backside and listened
to a classical music concert. Much different, but much cooler than I
expected. There were three musicians: a
pianist, a cellist, and a clarinetist.
They played two, three-movement songs—one piece by Mozart, the other by
Brahms—and they were absolutely amazing!
So, so cool. Really good piano
players are always amazing, but this
was my first time hearing a really good cello, and it blew me away. So beautiful.
And as for the clarinet, all I could think the whole time was: Wow—he’s
a lot better than Squidward! (from SpongeBob)
Ha! Seriously, though, the music
was really, really great and I left the concert with a new respect for classical music, and a new
answer to the question, “What’s your favorite instrument?” The cello impressed me very much.
Here are some pics from the concert:
Here are some pics from the concert:
It's hard to believe all of that happened in ONE day, huh? Very busy, but in a good way—a relaxing kind
of busy. Now I just hope I can sleep at
all tonight because tomorrow is the BIG day!
I can’t wait to tell you all about the game! Forza Barca! Until then…
Much love to all.
C
