Confortel Aqua Four Valencia

... quite possibly be shocked about ("cause we're in a Mediterranean climate, right?") is the lack of vegetables in the standard Spanish diet. Ham, ham they've got down cold (and I don't even eat the stuff), ...tortilla, olives/oil, oranges, cheese, wine...fantastico! Vegetables? I think those are grown for frying. But Valencia, that's different. The Valencian diet actually includes tons of produce and all things super duper fresh. So ...

... 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.

... cold! The next day we spent shopping at their huge outdoor market and sightseeing. Our day was cut a little short because apparently in Valencia, the WHOLE city shuts down for siesta. We ended up walking around for over an hour, only to find nothing open.
All around, it was a really successful trip! Hope everyone is doing well, and I miss you all very much.

Love,
Amy

... highlights. I found out that this city is one of the most progressive cities in all of Europe for social justice, for example, there are reliefs maps all over the city with directions in braille for people to get around. That made a big impact on me.

After the walking tour, as a group we continued on to a tapas tour. We went to four different restaurants and got tapas and sangria ...

... way down. It was impressive! And certainly didn’t match the other area of town!

We then walked in the humid heat to the Americas Cup Village only to be disappointed that it was all closed off due to the Formula 1 being on the week before! So we trammed and metro’d back to the hotel for a siesta – something we were definitely getting into on our trip!

We headed out for dinner in the city – nothing to fancy, jus tapas and wine!

... the "river" park is the focal point of Valencia. Our time in Valencia was made very special by the fact that a friend we made on the cruise (Tony) was born and raised in Valencia before moving to the U.S. Tony took us all over the city to see where he grew up, went to school, etc. He introduced us to a local treat called "Chufas" which is like a chewy peanut but has less flavor. Like peanuts, chufas are grown in the dirt. In Valencia they eat them soaked in oil and cold. The ...

... place... fallowing the sunshine...even if it was on the other side of the mountain...though it seemed that the sunshine was escaping from us...instead nice and sunny days we got unstoppable rain. And we never got our clothes dry... From the amazing palmtree valley we headed towards Alicante...conquered a 300 meters high hill...doesnt sound high I know but the climbing conditions made it at least 1000 meters high. Me and my flip-floppers on slippery rocks...maybe not the wisest idea but ...

... I've seen, the altar is very ornate and pretty with a lot of paintings of heavenly bodies (like clouds and angels). The inside was very large and spacious too. Most interesting, was that the cathedral has the severed arm of St. Vincent. I don't know why it's there as the church was closing and I didn't have enough time to read the sign. I'm sure it's an interesting story (how could it not be?). My classes this week have been fine. My ...

... before every turn to warn ppl going the other way that you're coming. This one night we got the bus back to our hostel and seriously, I've never felt so close to death than during that ride. The driver was going 80 mph and kept making the turns really sharp and almost hit about 10 cars. The entire time I kept my eyes closed and grabbed the seat in front of me because looking out the windows made it even worse because we got so close to the cliffs i tought we were goign to fall ...

... for a little while, then continue on. They would provide directions from the truck for certain moves to perform. Kids threw candy into the crowds. It was kind of fun. *** Today was the last day of Fallas, and we were preparing for the big finale. Nit de Foc is Night of Fire in Valenciano. They were selling shirts that gave a different interpretation of the word "Foc." After the Brazilian steel drum band, Tai and I peeled off to go see the fire parade ...