Ad Hoc Parque Hotel Betera

... arriving we set out on a mission to taste and enjoy - which we did! Valencian oranges (their trees lining all major streets and heavy with fruit), Horchata - a delicious drink made of ground tiger nuts - with fartons [stop laughing] - fantastic long pastries to dip into the horchata, and of course...paella. Knock-off paella, which is found everywhere else on the planet except Valencia, just isn't the same. And paella for ...

... interested. They have a great complex- The City of Arts and Sciences which you can easily spend two whole days in. There's everything from dolphin shows to films on Egyptology.
Found the city to be a little quiet and not just as impressive as other spainish cities, such as Seville, but def worth a visit- especially if you can join it up with a feista- I would love to go back for La fallas.

... 4 bed private room for only 3 people, and it was huge. It offered free linen, free WiFi, and free storage lockers. All around, a great first hostel experience.
The next day we spent the day at the beach. It wasn't the greatest weather, but just being at the beach at the end of September felt great. This was also my first time in the Mediterranean Sea, which was exciting, but ...

... was so highly recommended. Unlike Barcelona from where I departed, this city was clean and much more calm.

I got to my hostel after a quick walk through town, and immediately met an Australian girl named Cassandra and a girl from New Zealand (she calls herself a kiwi) her name is Annelise. We all became fast friends and spent the next few hours together. Cassandra convinced me to stay ...

... s no way it's coming up here, that would be impossible. Wrong. As the truck inched its way towards us, the whole group moved, in one movement because there was no other choice, backwards. It wasn't like I just stepped back. It was more like the top half of me was going, and the bottom half of me tripped and struggled to keep up. At some points, I was actually slightly bent at the waist in order to fit into my little ...

... went to investigate we saw about 10 or 12 men dressed in some medieval Hispanic garb holding enormous guns. They were firing them off every minute or so. Apparently it was a day that they commemorated their victory over the moors. Just today we witnessed a mass of people marching down the streets with instruments. I have no idea what they were up to. But other than that we spent a lot of our time with people at our hostel. I think we subconsciously decided to spend ...

... the shaded streets in our soaked clothing. The breeze didn't help. It was much better once we got out of the city centre and into the sun - we dried quickly. We passed numerous impromptu dance clubs and beer gardens. And several locals hosing off people as they walked on by. Perhaps Bunol would be a good spot to retire one day - where else could a guy get away with hosing hotties down without getting arrested? It was a wild scene at ...

... so was left with a bucket! Just before 12 everyone started going crazy and then when midnight came they all started chanting, in Spanish of course, and water started pouring down the streets, there were trucks filled with water, fire hoses and locals with hoses spraying out their windows into the street. All of us girls got targeted, the boys were in their element and were forming tactical assualt attacks on people to 'secure a key water dispensing site ...

... of a superb song (which, as later I learned from one of them, was performed by a traditional basque group that I like - and I had thought I would never hear that song again). After seeing a parade, we walked around the town to se the fallas, (huge sculptures that they erect all around the towns and in the last day of party are burned) but it was impossible to keep up with the people. I was talking to Betuca and, as he stopped for a moment to take a picture, we got ...

... train at xxxxx station. It was very clear that there was a problem with the train as well as the communication between the operators. Anyway I thanked him and headed to the bus. And the driver told me; -Sir, you need to get on the train. Then another bus to Valencia, not this one. It was very very clear that I was in Spain among the Spanish. In Japan nothing is said upon an assumption but here nothing on a ...