Having received some feedback from her traveling companion (Hamish) that we did more stuff that Lou wanted to do on holiday than what Hamish wanted to do (that's what happens when Lou books everything….), Lou decided to go ahead and rent a scooter for our last day in Valencia so we could cruise round the beaches.
Being Spain, nothing kicks off until about 11am so we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the Scooter shop. Hamish got the instructions and we were off! Lou was a little apprehensive – Spanish drivers are mental and they drive on the other side of the road but Hamish did well.
We sped along to the 'City of Arts and Sciences'. This had been hailed in all the tourist information as a must see but we were pretty skeptical. The last thing we wanted to do on a gorgeous sunny day was to be stuck in a museum, but we thought we would give it a go and we are glad we did.
It is basically a row of 3 buildings that join up to the park that runs through the city, the buildings are L'Hemisfèric, El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, L'Oceanogràfic and the L'Umbracle and El Puente de l'Assut de l'Or are the walkways and bridges respectively joining the buildings.
We didn't even need to go in the buildings to appreciate the awesome architecture. The combination of the whiteness of the buildings and the blue of the water surrounding them and also the scale of the buildings compared to the little ramshackle buildings we were used to seeing in the city, meant it was definitely breath taking.
We wandered up and down this massive row of buildings for a good hour or so before hopping back on the scooter to hit our next destination – the America's cup village. Now, road signs in Valencia are poor at best so Lou was hanging on Hamish for dear life and trying to read a road map in her sweaty little hands at the same time. Not ideal, especially when Hamish just missed going down a one way road the wrong way…a few choice words were spoken.
We eventually found the village and we were a little disappointed to be honest, we had thought that it would be like in Auckland with a buzzy feel about the place. All we found was a "museum" type thing that was really just one room with some video footage playing and some photos, and one bar that had no one in it. The big difference is that the port in Valencia is quite far out of the city so the foot traffic is quite low. We did find the Team New Zealand base, but again it was a bit of a ghost town.
Next stop beach time. Valencia's beaches are picture postcard perfect and they go on for AGES. As far as the eye can see pretty much. We grabbed a bite to eat and found our spot in the sand. Lou got to pick where we sat this time, so interestingly we were not near the groups of Spanish ladies with their tops off this time around.
It was hot, real hot. We had made the error of not putting sunscreen on in the morning and we were burning while we were cruising round without realising it. We went for a couple of swims and used up the shots on our sweet waterproof disposable cameras.
Late afternoon we packed up and headed back to the train station where we found our way to the airport, had a bite to eat and hopped on the plane home. Another late night, another stress trying to get the last tube home, but all worth it.
Highlight: The beautiful beaches….bliss and being on a bike again albeit a 50cc scooter.
Lowlight: Trying to find our way round on the scooter, very challenging
Interesting Fact: 60,000 people attended the inauguration ceremony of the 33rd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007.
Interesting Fact #2: Lou's and Hamish's version of "just missed" and "near death" experiences are worlds apart.
Being Spain, nothing kicks off until about 11am so we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the Scooter shop. Hamish got the instructions and we were off! Lou was a little apprehensive – Spanish drivers are mental and they drive on the other side of the road but Hamish did well.
 |
| Pink Bandit Lou with her sweet helmet. |
We sped along to the 'City of Arts and Sciences'. This had been hailed in all the tourist information as a must see but we were pretty skeptical. The last thing we wanted to do on a gorgeous sunny day was to be stuck in a museum, but we thought we would give it a go and we are glad we did.
We didn't even need to go in the buildings to appreciate the awesome architecture. The combination of the whiteness of the buildings and the blue of the water surrounding them and also the scale of the buildings compared to the little ramshackle buildings we were used to seeing in the city, meant it was definitely breath taking.
We wandered up and down this massive row of buildings for a good hour or so before hopping back on the scooter to hit our next destination – the America's cup village. Now, road signs in Valencia are poor at best so Lou was hanging on Hamish for dear life and trying to read a road map in her sweaty little hands at the same time. Not ideal, especially when Hamish just missed going down a one way road the wrong way…a few choice words were spoken.
We eventually found the village and we were a little disappointed to be honest, we had thought that it would be like in Auckland with a buzzy feel about the place. All we found was a "museum" type thing that was really just one room with some video footage playing and some photos, and one bar that had no one in it. The big difference is that the port in Valencia is quite far out of the city so the foot traffic is quite low. We did find the Team New Zealand base, but again it was a bit of a ghost town.
 |
| Hamish with the Boys |
Next stop beach time. Valencia's beaches are picture postcard perfect and they go on for AGES. As far as the eye can see pretty much. We grabbed a bite to eat and found our spot in the sand. Lou got to pick where we sat this time, so interestingly we were not near the groups of Spanish ladies with their tops off this time around.
Highlight: The beautiful beaches….bliss and being on a bike again albeit a 50cc scooter.
Lowlight: Trying to find our way round on the scooter, very challenging
Interesting Fact: 60,000 people attended the inauguration ceremony of the 33rd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007.
Interesting Fact #2: Lou's and Hamish's version of "just missed" and "near death" experiences are worlds apart.
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