This train from Granada to Valencia reached speeds up to 298 km/hr as we passed by towns and many orange orchards and wheat fields as the rains increased.
So much for sun along the Costa del Sol. It had been raining as our train moved toward Valencia. As we arrived after 9:30 PM, I was greeted with a huge thunder and lightning storm along with some rain.
The poncho I bought on the Camino Santiago was useful as I made my way to the room 00 Hostel just behind the Valencia Cathedral about a mile away.
As I near the cathedral area, there were many bars, cafés filled with people happy to see the rains since they had been in a drought situation the entire year.
Unfortunately, for the first time in my two months journey, I ended up with an upper bunk since I arrived so late, but they would get me a lower on the following two nights.
This was the same company that I had stayed with in Seville and they had just remodeled this place within the past month. The beds were luxurious complete with light and charging station along with privacy curtains. The showers were hot with and they had added rain shower heads as well as an ample area for changing clothes. Quite a different hostel than the one I had in Granada even if I was in the top bunk.
In the morning, it was sunny as I enjoyed a real breakfast of eggs, bacon, bread, OJ, and coffee near the cathedral area.
I also enjoyed some delicious dinners as well with views of the cathedral area in the distance.
It was a short walk to the cathedrals area, and since it was a Sunday I saw this service in process in the cathedral next to the Valencia Cathedral.. Afterwards I visited the huge gothic Valencia Cathedral.
What I have frequently found on my tours of big cathedrals and tourist attractions in Spain is that they offer audio recordings that are keyed to different places during the tour. Some are on audio recording machines they give to you and others have you use your cellphone via a QR coded to get the audio. I much prefer this way of seeing attractions over a human tour guide who tends to talk way too much and goes way too slow. With the audio, I control how much I want to hear or have repeated and what I want to see.
Here are a few of the things I saw in the Valencia Cathedral.
This is the Sacred Chalice that Christ drank from at the Last Supper.
These blue ceiling frescos were recently uncovered during a restoration project.
On two days, I took the tram out to the beach area where I enjoyed walking in the sun that had returned after my first night’s experience. I easily got in my 3 mile daily hike along the promenade that was sprinkled with places to eat and about 100 m from the sea. On Sunday it was filled with people and families and on Monday it was almost deserted with many of the restaurants closed.
On the way back on Monday, I visited the 14th Century Torres de Serranos which is only one of two remaining of Valencia’s city walls. This was the main exit to Barcelona and the north.
Nearby runs the Turia Riverbed that was transformed into the Jardin del Turia park after the river was diverted beginning in 1986 and runs through most of Valencia.
The La Almoina museum featured Roman ruins that were discovered just to the east of the Cathedral area. The excavations were amazing as the tour of the place took us over glass covered walkways to better see the ruins below the walkway. It was also a collection of ruins of later invaders including the Visigoths, Christians and Moors.
It makes me wonder about what will visitors to the US in the 26th century will think and learn about our civilizations in the 19th to 22nd centuries.
The covered Mercado Central, built in 1928, is a popular place to visit with its spectacular displays of seafood, fruits and vegetables, meats, and tapas bars. It opens at 7:30 and closes at 3 PM so I had to go see as it opened as I was leaving that morning for Barcelona.
My 1/2 hour walk from the Mercado got me to the Valencia Joaquin Sorolla train station with plenty of time to get breakfast.
Unfortunately, breakfast offerings here were limited to pastries and sandwiches and not any cooked egg breakfast. I spotted a McDonalds hopping to get a sandwich egg, sausage Mac muffin, but the only likely thing was an omelet sandwich.
I ordered that and it turned out to be a potato omelet like those I had tried on the Camino Santiago. After a few bites, I tossed it and settled for some yogurt with berries and pomegranate seeds along with OJ and coffee.
My 9:05 AM train to Barcelona looked like another fast one, but we only got up to speeds of 250 km per hour as we cruised along the coast with few stops along the way and passed numerous orange orchards and wheat fields. Even with that slower speed, it’s much faster than any trains in the US.
I love good train service as I found in Spain in Portugal.
The Sant Jordi Hostel directions using the metro and walking were excellent which was a good thing because it was raining as I made my way there.
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