A stroll through the cozy vibe
By the way, when I flew in at night, it was 24🌡️C! And that's at the end of October! During the day it's just super warm, everyone is in shorts and tees. This is, of course, the main plus of these parts, but also the minus. In summer it can hit forty, and at night often thirty. And in winter it's around ten degrees, but near zero happens too. At the same time, there's usually no central heating. People lug gas cylinders up to their floor.
Because it's apparently hot and the danger of dehydration is real, you regularly come across drinking fountains. Right on the street, in the parks. Convenient. The water, unfortunately, tastes completely terrible. It reeks of bleach just like in Riga, and in some places even worse. Again, because there's very little rain, the vegetation outside the city is dry. But inside the settlements it's quite nice — they take care of the parks. Also, if someone pees, be it a human or a dog, it will smell long and hard. Not like back home, until the nearest little rain. As a result, the more cultured locals walk around with shampoo and spray it after their dog. Naturally, the city also washes the pavements, otherwise it would be a total disaster.
The next morning I didn't rush straight into the fray, but just unpacked the bike. During the day, we leisurely went out for a stroll into the city to see what's what. We walked along that very riverbed of the Turia, where everything is organized quite conveniently. Along the edges — bike/pedestrian paths, further on — paths for runners, benches. Periodically stadiums and sports grounds, playgrounds. There are many places where you can go up to the city level, both on wheeled transport and on foot. If you need to cross the riverbed, there are bridges, they come across quite often. In at least one place there's an entrance down into the metro.
We also checked out the old town. The buildings there are quite beautiful, and there's a gorgeous fountain with statues. The benches are also painted in rainbow colors to scare off the residents of Latvia. It doesn't entirely work — for the sake of the climate and a comfortable urban environment, many are willing to endure the rampant Gayropeanism. Take, for example, the tradition of graffitiing the shutters that close the shops at night. And this isn't vandalism, it's commissioned! A kids' store will have colorful toys painted on it, an auto parts store — speeding cars. Even on a hair salon you can see stylish women's heads. In this city you immediately feel a soulful warmth and coziness. It's a place where you want to live.
Architecture
Graffiti
May you dream of space
When we reached the 🚂 Nord railway station, I saw the Art Nouveau style building and was really moved by it. In Riga this is called Jugendstil. In case anyone forgot, Art Nouveau is an architectural style characterized by simplified forms and color palette. The building is pretty, I'll show you a photo (author Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0).
There are two train stations in Valencia, but they are located right next to each other — Nord is for local routes, and Joaquín Sorolla is for long-distance ones. By the way, Sorolla is a famous Spanish impressionist, originally from Valencia. I'll show you one painting of his that I liked. If you like it, I recommend a lecture about him, it's good. Interestingly, back in 2005, the symphonic metal band Within Temptation performed a one-off gig in the station building; I've actually listened to them, and they are in my 📼 collection.
Also around the station area is Chinatown, where there are several Chinese joints, shops, and even a whole supermarket. We couldn't help but go in, for curiosity's sake. The Chinese didn't disappoint — I found that famous Intergalactic Coke with the taste of space there, which was released as a limited edition. I hadn't seen it anywhere else. There's a whole story with this Coke. There's a tall tale that it contains the flavoring that makes up entire nebulas the size of the solar system. In principle, this isn't that hard to imagine — there's a lot of alcohol in space, and from there to other simple hydrocarbons is a short step. True, if you look at the official materials, there are no such bold claims there. Just marketing blah-blah about the unearthly taste of stargazing 🌠 and all that. Personally, I liked this Coke (the Zero version), even more than regular Zero. But probably less than Cherry Zero, which is found in Spain, but not back home. There was also another exotic Coke in the Chinamarket — Dreamworld, with a marshmallow flavor, but I don't have anything to say about it. But the space one, by the way, slightly reminds me of Riga Black Balsam with blackcurrant. I wouldn't have been able to articulate it myself if I hadn't seen what the reviewers were writing. When this happens, I envy people capable of noticing subtleties — it's hard for me.
I write so much about Coke because it's a hobby of mine. I try Coke Zero from different companies and varieties whenever I come across them. In Spain, the clones of the drink didn't impress me, unlike in Switzerland, where I fell in love with the tangerine Happy Cola from the Coop chain.
A paradise for retirees?
Inside Valencia lives roughly 800k people, and with the suburbs — 1.5m. The city is quite big, and continues to grow. They're building twenty-story anthills, unfortunately, nothing 💡. It's good at least that there are parks nearby, not parking lots — they try to make those underground. Apartments are usually very large, thankfully you don't have to pay for heating. 80+ square meters is the norm, often over a hundred. They cost from 30k (small ones, in old buildings and not the best neighborhoods, need renovation), 100k+ (decent options with a larger area, sometimes an elevator and a trendier neighborhood), 150k+ (new builds, elevator, AC, near the sea). For 300k+ you can get a huge penthouse or a small house.
The city is also permeated with a network of bike paths, and boulevards often have huge tiled sidewalks. Obviously, it's not like that everywhere, but you can get very, very far on a bike. Just recently I rode my bike out of town. Even though I got confused and it wasn't easy, I made it out. In some places, the bike path is just in name only, running along a busy highway. But often it's separated at least by bollards, which is safe and comfortable. Bike paths usually have pedestrian crossings, but pedestrians often let cyclists pass. They understand that doing start/stop on a bike is harder. Drivers let you pass too, and very politely — even where there's a 🛑 sign for bikes. True, there are also many 🚦 for bikes, and there you kindly have to obey. Although if there are no 🚗, very, very many people break the rules. Friends say that in Spain there's a wonderful rule — when overtaking a cyclist, you have to reduce your speed to their speed. A quick search clarifies that Spain has many sensible rules to help cyclists on the road.
Actually, when overtaking, you have to reduce your speed by 20 km from the current limit (meaning in the city it's 50-20=30 km/h). Furthermore — when a car is overtaking a bike, they must keep a distance of 2m. 🚴 always have priority in disputed situations and on equal-rank 🛣. You can ride two abreast if it doesn't hinder other road users (this rule is just 🔥!). At a roundabout, a group of cyclists is considered as one vehicle for priority rules.
You absolutely cannot ride on the sidewalk, unless it is explicitly permitted by a sign. In my experience, if you ride quietly and there's no bike path nearby, the police ignore you.
Instagram food pics
Pilaf and Coca-Cola
After an intense walk around the old town, we, understandably, got hungry. Restaurants in Spain operate trickily. Some have a siesta, meaning they're only open morning and evening. Some only open for lunch. Tapas bars (meaning where people booze in a group and snack on little sandwiches) only in the evening. And a good fish joint is strictly by appointment only.
In the end, we went into an Indian restaurant called "Bharat" with a good rating and a review from my friend. I ordered the vegetarian Biryani dish there, which is something like pilaf, only with vegetables, ghee, and a ton of spices. The Biryani was so delicious that I practically experienced a gastronomic orgasm. I haven't had such an enjoyable meal in a long time. I don't know if it was the spices, the sauce, or the right amount of spiciness, but it was incredibly wonderful. I asked for a latte with the dish, but the waiter bantered something about "Indian coffee", and ultimately brought tea with milk. Oh well, when in India, do as the Indians do.
It cost me 13.50€, which is actually very reasonable. The dish was huge, I got stuffed, and in any Italy or France, such a dish + coffee would cost a twenty at least.
Having had lunch, we went into the royal park (garden?), where there's a cage with a bunch of parrots. These birds already sit on the palm trees here like crazy, but in the cage there are a lot of different ones all at once, and you can even feed them. There's also a natural history museum standing nearby, but people usually use it as a good public toilet. An unenviable fate, but what can you do.
Having gawked at the parrots, we finally headed home. In Spain, the pedestrian figure on traffic lights can be female, or at least wearing a skirt. This distinction is now becoming significant, especially since the country has always supported the rights of LGBT-and-the-rest-of-the-alphabet. For example, same-sex marriages were legalized here in 2004. Spain has ancient traditions of same-sex relations, and it's no surprise that 88% of Spaniards view LGBT positively according to polls. This is one of the highest figures in the world. Interestingly, emigrants from Latvia and Russia often grind their teeth over this, especially when they see various prides or "inappropriately" dressed citizens, but they still come here in droves. They just love the good weather and the relaxing atmosphere too much. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Good luck to them with that!
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