Friday morning, we went out to Barcelona Airport, rented a car, and headed south along the Mediterranean coast to Valencia. It was about a three hour drive plus an hour stop for lunch.
Walking around Valencia Saturday morning, this was one of the first srstreets we came across. Interesting name!
Valencia is home to many beautiful older buildings. This is one of them, situated in a pretty little plaza.
A fountain in the same plaza.
Detail of a bronze duck in the same fountain...
...and a restaurant with a duck theme on, which sits on the same plaza.
Because of the Las Fallas festival, Valencia was all decked out with lights and flags. Pictured above, the flags of the province of Valencia.
On our walk, we came across this plaza with large older buildings. I believe it's Valencia Cathedral.
Another pretty building. Lots of the buildings in Valencia had wrought iron details, like tihs one did.
Shopping street in the center of old Valencia.
As in Barcelona, you see a lot of beautiful painted tiles all over the place in Valencia. This one was in front of an elaborate bridal shop.
Chris enjoyed the fact that the Cafeteria Kansas was one of the most popular places in Valencia.
Beautifully displayed tin of sardines, seen while walking around the old part of town.
One of the sponsors of the Las Fallas festival is the rice company, Arroz la Fallera. Since paella is the national dish, and since paella originates from Valencia (the full name is Paella a la Valenciana), rice is a big deal in Valencia. These yellow barricades were all over the place when we were in town.
Valencia station.
On Sunday morning, we took another walk into town. Along the way, we passed this intersting and colorful Sunday market.
Baskets for sale at the Sunday market.
Herbal cures were for sale, too.
And of course you could grab a bite to eat.
Back in the main part of town, food was a big deal. Many of the restaurants had major operations going on out of doors.
For example, this paella. We thought it looked mighty fine...
...so Chris tried and enjoyed a paella here...
...and so did I! A fitting last meal - we hopped a cab back to our hotel, checked out, and headed back up to Barcelona for our flight home.