Aug
27
2009
From Ibiza to Valencia
Author: SamAs we head into Barcelona to meet with a friend of ours, Lara and her family, we come off a all day passage form Valencia where we spent three days exploring the city. Lara was staying at one of the Valencia hotels which was very exquisite. We were docked in Port America’s Cup, which is a modern marina that was built to house the 32nd America’s Cup in 2007.
Valencia itself is an often over looked city in terms of tourism. It’s a great combination of history, historical architecture, modern architecture and the home of paella, a rice seafood dish served in a huge frying pan. After our overnight from Ibiza to Valencia, we spent the morning recouping and napping. We have discovered that those nights at sea and the 3 to 4 hour watch schedule that my wife and I share, requires a catch-up nap the next day. For our multi-day passage, we simply nap on and off throughout the day, but on arrival days, the tendency has been to immediately head out into the city. We’ve learned to take it easy our first day. The children unloaded the bikes and explored the park and rode the Formula 1 race way which was built around the marina for August, while my wife and I napped and cleaned up. Later in the day we went into the old town by bus and spent the late afternoon and early evening walking the city past beautiful old churches and museums. The doors on these buildings were works of art. They were 15 feet carved wooden masterpieces. We passed the very rich shopping area and encountered a very rare and somewhat magnificent site…a Starbucks. My wife couldn’t resist.
We hadn’t had a Starbucks cup of coffee for over a month, and here we are, sailing across the sea’s like we were in search of something familiar. I have to admit, the coffee was good.