Tapas Tour
Part 3 of 7. A Moment in Valencia – Arrival is part 2.
After a good sleep, it’s time for a free-walking-tour of the city. I just love these tours because you get to see enough of the city to get a feel for it and its history as well as getting a bearing on your surroundings.
The tour is great and the city of Valencia is just wonderful. The whole city seems to be straight out of a Spanish fairy-tale.
There are many old cathedrals and there are weddings taking place everywhere complete with fireworks and old Rolls Royce’s. Every window on every building has a balcony with Spanish tiles for its floor. The ground in the main squares is covered in red marble with white veins running through it. There are painted and decorated tiles lining many of the buildings. There are places for tapas and outdoor cafes around every corner. There are fountains and orange trees and tiny Spanish beers and paella. There is even this special drink for Valencia called “Horchata” which is some sort of sweet but kind of disgusting white drink served ice cold and you never really know if you like it or not but you keep drinking it anyway.
I have the biggest smile and I just can’t get it off my face! 🙂
After the tour, our guide takes some of us to a small tapas tour of sorts, but it is really more of a social event filled with small local tapas and lots of “Agua de Valencia”, which stands for “Water of Valencia.” It’s so strong it could kill a horse!
Agua de Valencia is some sort of orange juice mixed with what I can only imagine is tequila and gin all served in a sort of wine glass with lots of ice. It’s the most refreshing and alcoholic beverage I think I have ever had and, since I have been sweating my back-side off in the sun for the last two hours on the tour, I am easily tipsy at this point.
I have to say though that it makes for a really fun experience when you get to sit down with 10 people you have never previously met and get a little tipsy in an old city in Europe where every brick in the surrounding buildings is older than your own country.
While sitting with my new friends, a few of us decide to go to the beach together later in the day.
The beach is massive, sunny with warm water, and finely cleaned sand. The water is perfect and the women are topless. I really couldn’t ask for much more from a beach.
Valencia Beach Malvarrosa
I must say the only awkward part was the couple in front of us. The beach is filled with families, children, old people, everyone everywhere and these two are fondling each other like they’re out for an adult film shoot. The man began by teasing his woman’s nipples and then his hand disappeared under her bikini bottom, and it wasn’t to apply sunscreen. Though, that didn’t faze me so much as it did confuse me given the number of families sitting nearby. Funny Spanish people.
By the time we got home I was feeling just great. I had a tour of the city, got tipsy on a local beverage while tasting interesting tapas and meeting new people, went to the beach with some great people, and swam like a fish.
I’m not certain what the night will hold, but I’m ready for it!
A Moment in Valencia – The Night – Part 4 of 7
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