Oh, Valencia

city center in Valencia
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We just left the port in Valencia to set sail towards Almeria (the place where John Lennon wrote Strawberry Fields Forever). Valencia was great and we ended up getting a ton of photos, so many in fact that the battery in our camera crapped out on us.

Jacob requested a wakeup call for this morning at 6am so that we would be able to get off the ship bright and early. We didn’t know that the “wakeup call” was really an obnoxiously loud alarm that blared through the phone speaker. The alarm scared Jacob so much he fell out of the bed and thought that the ship was going down. I felt bad but I had to laugh seeing Jacob flailing about trying to figure out where that noise was coming from.

If only I could figure out this map!!!

The Bird Man
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After breakfast, we disembarked from the ship and made our way to the shuttle bus that brought us straight into the city center. It was while we were boarding the shuttle that I realized we may very well be the youngest people on this cruise. Seriously. It’s kinda nice though because it seems that the older folks like to go to bed early so we have all the facilities pretty much to ourselves in the evening. The boat is like a ghost ship after about 9:30.

Anyways, the shuttle dropped us off in front of the bull fighting arena which was remarkable. Merchants lined the bottom level of the arena and sold fairly cheap trinkets and souvenirs. From the bull fighting arena we decided to do our own makeshift walking tour of the city. Everything went swimmingly except for the fact that the map we grabbed before getting onto the shuttle was completely in Spanish…. At least I think it was Spanish. Long story, slightly shorter, Jacob and I got incredibly lost. It was for the best though because we stumbled upon some amazing cathedrals and parks that I’m sure we wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

Where exactly are we?
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The one main thing I was dying to see while we were in Valencia was the City of Arts and Sciences and the aquarium (Ciudad De Las Artes Y Las Ciencias and L’Oceanografic according to my trusty map). The aquarium is supposedly the largest in Europe and the City of Arts and Sciences is a modern city within a city. If only I could figure out this map!!! I took my chances and directed us to the number “35 turista autobus publico.” I knew turista translates to tourist so I crossed my fingers and prayed the bus would take us where we needed.

Jacob wandering the streets
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Hooray! The bus was a winner. Jacob was in awe at the City of Arts and Sciences. So far he says Valencia is his favorite destination that we’ve been to. Once again the architecture was phenomenal and it felt as though we were standing in a scene from the movie Aeon Flux (it was here that the battery in the camera died because we took so many pictures).

It was also a nice 75 degrees here today. That sounds like the perfect temperature except for the fact that at the City of the Arts and Sciences, it seems the sun’s rays are reflected off the buildings… and then bounced back directly at us. Needless to say we started to get pretty dehydrated after walking for hours so we popped into a little side store to get a drink. Listening to Jacob butcher the language and attempt to ask for “dos grande coca colas por favor” will be a memory that will stay with me forever. You should have seen the look on the sales clerk’s face. Priceless. Oh, and just to let you know, we only ordered cokes because we haven’t the slightest idea on how to ask for iced tea.

City of Arts and Sciences
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After the City of Arts and Sciences we took the reliable bus back to the bull fighting arena and unsuccessfully attempted to force the camera to turn on for one last shot and then we made our way back to the boat.

Time for dinner.