This weekend we made our first big family trip to Valencia, famous for the aptly named Valencia Orange. Our mission, to visit the Ciudad de las Artes y las Sciencias - the City of Arts and Sciences. Also home to the largest aquarium in Europe which was why we had chosen this to be our first big trip - aquariums being a favorite of both kids.
We opted to take the Renfe which is a part of the train system here instead of renting a car. For some reason we're still finding it daunting and since we were only going for 2 days we figured we wouldn't really need to leave the city which would be the purpose of having a car.
This was my first time taking a long distance train ride. I've ridden on plenty of commuter rails and subways but not long distance. I can't say that it was luxurious but it was definitely more comfortable and roomier than flying in a plane plus the aisles were wider for walking down if you wanted to get up and about. I, for one, don't like to stand when on a plane. I felt perfectly fine doing so on the train. So I think we'll do it again. Not to mention seeing the beautiful countryside which you can't see from 30,000 miles above the landscape! We trekked by the Mediterranean many times (both cities are on the coast) and at times it was almost like we were floating above the water. On the other side were the mountains - absolutely stunning with their lush foliage and speckled with houses here and there with the expectant red tile roofs that I had hoped to see. We even came across a castle or two!!
Left: Liam watching a movie on the train
Right: A castle at Sagunt high up on the hilltop!
Not to sidetrack from the actual trip but I have to highlight the info on this castle just because, well, it's a castle and it's not like it's something I see in my everyday life in the US! This castle which is pictured above is in the area of Sagunt (I know this because it was right around the Sagunt station on the train and I then googled it). According to wikipedia.com this castle and walled fortress was built around the 5th century B.C. making it pretty damn old!! For more info on the castle and it's history, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagunt_-_Sagunto. I found a better image than what I was able to capture from a moving train as well. www.spain.info/.../castillo_de_sagunto.html.
Overall the 3 1/2 hour trainride was uneventful which is a good thing. Liam as always was in constant motion. I actually think he was more mellow on the plane ride from the US to Barcelona than he was on the train. But thankfully the train wasn't that busy and no one seemed bothered with him playing on the floor with his stickers (which he makes into guys which to be honest is a bit odd...why not just play with the many action figures he has...oh well, to each their own).
Our arrival in Valencia coincided with lunchtime so the kids were a bit whiny by the time we got there. Driving thru the city in the taxi my first impressions (which were not to be my final impressions) was that the city appeared to be on a larger scale than Barcelona. While Barcelona is actually considered to be a larger city than Valencia, it was Valencia that felt like it was on a much larger scale and much more open. The buildings seemed taller and more spread out. There was space between the buildings. Here in Barcelona, many buildings share common walls and so you could walk an entire block and never see in between two buildings. It can be almost like a big wall. There was more greenery than in Barcelona (which Barcelona severely lacks in). And finally it seemed less old world and more new world to me. We drove thru some industrial type areas that were most definitely not hundreds of years old like most of what I've seen in Spain to date. I know that's stereotyping that everything here should be old and I know it's not, I was just surprised to see more modern than historic during our drive to the hotel.
Building outside the train station - some of historic Valencia!
While the goal of our trip was to go to the Ciudad de las Artes y las Sciencias (the City of Arts and Sciences), the most exciting thing on our agenda was the pool at the hotel. Yes, simple pleasures my friends. Instead of spending hundreds of euros to travel 3 1/2 hours to Valencia, pay for 2 nights of hotel and meals...we could have just bought a little swimming pool for our patio. Ahhh well...hindsight is 20/20. So before we could even venture out of the hotel, we must go for a dip. Turns out the pool is significantly smaller than the hotel website lets on but it worked for Josh and the kids (just a teeny bit too chilly for me considering it was supposed to be an indoor HEATED pool).
After the requisite dip in the pool we headed down the road for some lunch. As you all know, food and Spain aren't really doing it for me. So we went to the pizza place next to our hotel. This pizza place was to become our new "go to" place over the course of the next few days. Sadly, we had 3 meals here and given we were only in Spain for 7 meals and 2 of those were breakfast, that's a good chunk of our time spent in this little pizzaria. To their credit, they had really really good pizza. Oh and I must digress just a moment more - one of the things Josh and I have noticed in Spain and just thought it was Barcelona but now that we've had pizza in yet another city hours away realize it must be a Spanish thing (perhaps even European???) but the Spaniards don't cut their pizza. They serve it to you whole most of the time. You have to specifically request that they cut the pizza into slices for you. Just something I thought I'd share...
Despite a little food in their bellies, the kids were a bit on the grumpy side and so we took them to play at the playground behind our hotel. Had we known that there was this enormous green belt just a few blocks away that extended thru most of the city with lots of greenery and parks we would have taken them there. Alas, we didn't know it existed until our cabride back to the train station on Sunday afternoon. Next time I suppose. Good thing the kids were happy with what they were given.
Playing at the park behind our hotel.
We took a stroll down to view the "City" and it was spectacular! I have never seen anything like it. It was incredibly modern and very space-like would be the best way I can describe it. White everywhere. And more greenery as well as a lot of water. It was most definitely the way I would describe art and science if I had to build something to represent it.
One of the things we most enjoyed during our stroll was Aidan's new gift - his early birthday present - a camera. We debated when to give it to him since his birthday isn't til mid May but given we were taking this big trip as well as to Paris next weekend to Disney there were many photo opportunities ahead of us. He's already planning a photo book for when we download his images this week. He was one happy and excited kid and just started taking pictures of everything.
And he was taking such care with his camera - very careful to put on the wrist strap every time he took it out so that it didn't drop on the ground. Checking every single picture he took to see how he had done. He was very proud of himself and I can't wait to see what he took this weekend!
The rest of Friday was uneventful. Knowing we had a busy day ahead of us on Sat we called it a night relatively early after an ice cream dinner at the mall near our hotel since we'd had such a late lunch. We were just "thrilled" to realize that all of the beds had wheels on them (insert sarcasm here). So Josh and I had two twin beds that were pushed together and rolled apart if you happened to close to one another - or if you tried to lean against the headboard you would find yourself pushing yourself across the room. The kids, of course, thought it was great to be able to push the beds apart and made themselves a play area in between!
Left: Above the Ciudad
Right: on the left is the Hemisferic which is the Omni theater and on the right is the science museum. The purplish building way to the right is still under construction and the aquarium is situated behind that.
More pics as we walk around the Ciudad - or perhaps as we rest as Josh tries to do here with very little luck!
Aidan shows off his new camera! And another view of the Ciudad.
Liam can't help but touch the water. Good thing Josh was with him or I'm sure he would have jumped in!
This building was structurally amazing to me - the top part is literaly only attached on the left bottom side. Not sure how the rest is able to just hang there but it does. And Liam taking a picture with his CARS camera that we had to buy him after Aidan got his real camera.
Aidan checking out the pics he's taken so far.
Saturday morning we were off to a great start. It was a beautiful day and we made our way over to L'Oceanografic. The kids were excited to see what was ahead of us that day. While I have very few aquariums to compare this one too - New England, Mystic and Barcelona - it far surpassed them. The amount of animals (though I didn't see a single sea turtle which surprised me!), the size and expanse of the tanks. The different structures for each area - Oceans, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Antarctica, etc.
One of the main aquarium buildings
Checking out one of the tunnels that lead you underground to observe some deeper dwelling fish and also watching the jellyfish - they are a bit mesmerizing!
Gross spider crab. Saw a bunch of these. And the other picture is to give you a perspective on how big the tanks were here.
Harbor seal watching us!! And Kath, Flat Chase made it to Valencia. Liam almost tossed him in with the dolphins but he made it and we got a few (I stress few) shots with him here - next is on to Paris and then home to you!
My first walrus sighting! For such large and awkward looking animals they are very elegant in the water. And Aidan posing with the Beluga whale.
Dolphin show!
Time out for lunch! No more sippy for Liam today... and yes, he spilled that entire glass of milk on the table because of it!
In another tunnel - this one had lots and lots of sharks!
We saw a bunch of these sunfish - check out how big they are compared to the shark. Talk about an ugly looking fish! I'd never seen one before this trip - amazing what's out there in the ocean!
Checking out the aviary and some turtles getting some sun!
Each child had several meltdowns...not that it was surprising but it was frustrating. I won't deny that, especially when it wasn't pocket change to travel there. We contemplated ever bringing them on vacation again and even threatened cancelling Disney to no avail. But kids are kids and did we really expect them to be perfect on this trip? We could only wish but yeah, we know how they are going to be. Lunch was at a cute little restaurant on the aquarium campus where Josh and I enjoyed several much needed glasses of sangria to ease the pain of the tantrums a little bit.
Because the kids were in meltdown mode we went back to the hotel for a little bit and then ventured out away from the City of Arts and Sciences. We debated - city center or beach. If you know us well, you'll know that we chose the beach. The hotel had recommended an area called Playa Neptun. I have to say that it was probably the largest beach I have ever seen with the most amazing views, even better than those in Barcelona and I thought those were fabulous. The sand still not as nice as the Caribbean though! But the beach went on FOREVER! The pictures do not do it justice.
Now Aidan & Liam are most definitely regular beachgoers. We have a house by the beach, we have a boat, we go to the beach most weekends in the warmer weather and yeah, we've been to the beach in Barcelona already too (just not in swimsuits yet - still in fleeces!). But you would think the two of them have never in their lives seen a beach or sand before. Or perhaps it was pent up energy. But they ran and played like I have never seen. Aidan did sand angels. And Liam... well Liam being Liam, he started sand diving. And yes, it looked like it hurt but he kept doing it over and over again. It was also hysterical! They had fun up until Liam started eating the sand and that's when we called it quits.
Restaurants lined the boardwalk behind the beach. The beach stretches on forever! You can actually see 2 other cities from where we were on the beach at a distance.
Liam digs in the sand while Aidan makes a sand angel.
Sand angel complete! And yes, this is Liam in midair sand diving!
Digging in the sand like they have never seen it before!
Views from the walkway. Look how tiny Aidan is compared to the tree and all the sand behind him!
Checking out a sand castle!
The entire boardwalk was lined with restaurants - most of which weren't open because it wasn't 8PM yet. In
Barcelona most restaurants don't open til dinner til around 8 for dinner however, you can always find a few that are open earlier, especially in more touristy areas where they will cater to those (like us from the US) that eat at a much earlier time. What we found in Valencia is that even less will open their doors before 8 unless it is just a bar. What we also found which we've seen a little bit of but not nearly as much is that in Valencia the places we went to did not have children's menus. The kids all eat what the adults eat. Now I'm not saying it's a bad thing that they don't cater to children (in Spain kids appear to be welcome at any restaurant at any time and both Josh and I have seen small kids out til the wee hours with their families) as far as food goes - makes for less picky children I think. But for those of us with picky children, aka Liam, it made for quite a challenge to find a place for us to eat where we figured he would actually ingest some food. Hence our regular pizza place. So we cut our beach time short and hustled it back to the hotel. We figured we would get the pizza para llevar (to go) and have a little picnic in our room since it was already 7:30 and we had a slight issue in the cab. Oh and did I mention that Liam puked out the door of the cab a block from the hotel? Yes, let me backtrack - this is the reason we were doing it to go - just in case we had a reoccuring problem with the pukester. Turns out it was probably from the sand he ingested - perhaps Mediterranean sand doesn't digest as well as that from Cape Cod.
But of course, this being Spain and now we're in Valencia...the pizza place is not yet open although there are people there. But they refuse to put in Josh's order until they officially open at 8. So we wait. Kids eat around 8:30, bed by 9. Whew!! What a day!!!
Some of the things I observed on Saturday beyond the aquarium.
- Compared to Barcelona the people here aren't quite as trendy. They seem slightly more conservative than their counterparts up in Barcelona.
- Taxis here are white and not yellow... a big deal? No, but just an observation.
- The crosswalks are not all automatic as they are in Barcelona. All crosswalks in Barcelona are on a timer - no need to press a button - ever.
- There are significantly less mopeds and motorcycles in Valencia as compared to Barcelona. I'd say at least 50% of the vehicles on the road in BCN are of the 2 wheeled sort.
- Similar to Barcelona but something I haven't blogged about (I think Josh may have early on) is that in bigger stores such as Carrefours or Alcampo (they are like the Walmart and KMart of Spain respectively), if you have a bag from another store with you, you must insert it into a plastic bag which is then heat sealed closed before you can enter the store. Apparently there must be a lot of petty theft.
- It is near impossible to find a sippy cup in Spain. We lost ours at the hotel and I searched everywhere and this is after I also searched for them here in Barcelona. Apparently you go from bottle to baby sippy (you know, the ones with the handles) to cup.
But to go back to the science museum. The structure of the building was amazing and beautiful. It had 3 floors of exhibits. The first one we went to that the kids (and that includes Josh) were most enthralled with was the Marvel Comics one. They just loved it! And Scott G., we took lots of pictures just for you and I've emailed them to your wife! We would have loved to do the hall of electricity and the astronomy exhibit too but we ended up having to leave to catch our train. We did check out some of the other smaller exhibits and it's definitely a museum I'd like to see in its entirety someday.
Marvel exhibit
Notice Liam poking around both superheroes!
Spiderman suspended from the ceiling. And those hands are actually made of ice and were VERY cold!
It actually said on the signs DO NOT SWING so that's exactly why he was doing it. Aidan climbs the spidey wall. He said it's much harder to go side to side rather than up and down.
More Marvel exhibits. And watching baby chicks hatch. A few of them looked like they had just hatched moments before - very exciting!
Liam giving Aidan a hand but apparently he's strong and doesn't really need one as he pulls up this anchor!
Getting ready to say our good-byes to Valencia!
Once again, time for lunch and our fave pizza place. Grabbed a quick bite and then it was off to the train station. This time the cab driver took us a different way and I have to say, he completely changed my perspective of the city. The first driver took us a more industrious route. This driver took us the more scenic route. It turns out that the Ciudad de las Artes y las Sciencias is at the very end of an expansive greenbelt thru the city that is full of parks, trees, grass (unheard of in Barcelona and where you find it is also where you find dog poop), expansive walking/bike paths, and playgrounds. I wish we had seen that earlier because it was only a few blocks from our hotel in the opposite direction of the Ciudad. What we also got to see was more of the old historic Valencia and it is beautiful. I have no idea what we saw but it was magnificent. Again, it felt like it was on a larger scale than Barcelona. The trees were taller as were the buildings. But they all had an old world feel to them even though they were bigger. As we approached the train station (from the opposite direction from which we had left it) we were surprised to see a coliseum right next to the station. And on the walls outside - ads for bullfights for 2010. No folks, the art of bullfighting is still alive and well in Spain. And this stadium looked like it had been around for many a bullfight. The gates were locked so the pictures of the inside are of me putting the camera thru the gate and trying to get a picture of what it looked like inside.
Views of the stadium
And finally a picture of the train station - isn't it beautiful??
This entry has been much longer than I had anticipated it being but I'd like to add in one more parting observation before I turn in for the night. Someone recently told me that the Spanish people tend to be lazy (I've already forgotten who that was but the phrase stuck in my head nonetheless). They keep very few hours for work - open around 10, close from 2-5 and then open til 9. Not quite sure how they make their money. But one of the things I'm coming to realize is that I don't think it's so much laziness as appreciation for life - and that there is more to it than working than building up the country's GDP or GNP. That's not to say that they aren't ambitious but I think it's that they have found something many of us strive for - a work life BALANCE. The work to live not live to work. I think this is a part of why the Spaniards despite their drinking, late nights, smoking and not so great eating habits are overall healthy people. So on that note, I'm going to try to learn to focus more on my family and realize that while I enjoy my work, my life is not just about work but about living!! If there is anything I can take from here in the course of two years, I think this would be a big lesson.
This coming weekend... Paris!! Will blog more after we return!
Julie
Great post, loved the pics. Glad to see you guys getting out to see more of Spain!
ReplyDeleteMiss you guys!
Den
love your blog and the pics glad you seen the real spain for what it rally is.
ReplyDeleteMarie