Finally! After two years, I found the time to travel back to my favorite city, Valencia. This time it was for a citytrip on a budget.
My friend, Julie, and I stayed at the Valencia Lounge Hostel. Thé hipster hostel of Valencia located in El Carmen. This hostel isn’t only cool and trendy and the perfect stay, but it’s also perfectly located: on a 2-min walk from hotspot El Negrito and not far from the Plaza de Saint Jaume. The rooms are clean, the sanitary provisions are hygienic and the kitchen is cozy. The ideal place to stay for a short and fun citytrip to this Spanish city.
After we arrived and settled in the hostel, I took my friend through the little streets of El Carmen, or the old part of the city. We started with Plaza de Toros and the North Station. Next, we walked towards Plaza Ayuntamiento and Plaza de La Reina. Our walk took us to the cute little Plaza Redonda, the smallest house of Valencia and towards Plaza de La Virgen, my favorite square in Valencia. Next, we walked through the little streets of this part of the city and enjoyed its street art. Some images have been the same for more than 5 years, but on other places they change every few months, which makes this wandering always an adventure. We ended the day with a dinner in a typical Valencian restaurant where they serve the best tapas. For a relaxing tea under funny-looking lights, we went to the trendy square at the Mercado de Tapinería.
Day two, our first full day in Valencia. Lucky us, it was an extremely beautiful day even for Valencia, 29 degrees in January! We bought a very cheap breakfast at El Garnier (4 euro for 2 persons) and took it with us. Today a bike trip was planned. We rented our bikes at the Easy Way Valencia, which offers cheap but quality bikes. Let’s go! I was surprised with the multiple new bike lanes in the city. Valencia and bikes, it’s a never-ending love affair… La Puente de las Flores was the perfect place for a breakfast picnic after (only) 10 min of biking. I took Julie through El Jardín del Turía and she loves it as much as I do. Through this park, we found our way towards Ciudad de las Artes y de Las Ciencias, the astonishing architecture of the buildings by Calatrava surprised me again with its beauty. This place just stays magical.
We biked through the harbor and towards the seaside. Here, we took a break on the beach. After our short stop, we biked towards Playa de La Alboraya, a cozy little village a bit further along the coast. We had lunch in Pans and Company and decided to spend our afternoon sunbathing on the beach and enjoying the beautiful weather. In the late afternoon we biked back through the neighborhood El Cabanyal. This is a poorer area but beautiful old laborer’s houses can be found here. We, both loved this day and we felt free as a bird.
After a shower and a nap in our hostel we took our bikes again and biked to La Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias for a second time to enjoy its beautiful buildings in the evening lights. We had a little apero that we bought on the way, on the benches of this sci-fi-like city. A delicious meal in La Papardella a budget-friendly restaurant with delicious pastas and vegan options was the perfect to end our fantastic day.
On our second and last full day, we would get our number of steps above 10 000 in thé upcoming neighborhood Ruzafa. When visiting this area of the city you MUST have breakfast, brunch or lunch at Dulce de Leche. Once at this trendy pastelería you will know what I mean! While I lived in Valencia, I never took the time to fully get to know this neighborhood and for one way or the other it seems like I will never fully understand it. I always get lost when in Ruzafa, the unique shops are always closed when I am in Ruzafa and I am always disappointed by it. It feels like we just do not match. Nevertheless, I love its buildings, its Mercado de Ruzafa and I keep on returning to this area.
After exploring Ruzafa, we walked towards the beautiful Mercado Colon and towards the shopping streets, Calle de Jorge Juan, Calle de Colón and Calle de Don Juan de Austria (watch out, all streets names in Valencia are in Spanish and Valencian! I gave them all in Spanish, the Valencian alternatives are with ‘carrer’ and often a slight change in the following words as well!). We thought that we deserved a siesta after all the wandering and shopping, so we got our e-readers and books, bought some delicious strawberries in El Mercado Central and we headed of to El Jardín del Turía. Lucky us, it was still sunny and we enjoyed the sun, our books and the sweet strawberries. On our way back to the hostel we climbed Torre de Serranos, a must-do during sunset! As students living on a budget we decided to eat tapas again on our last evening in this wonderful city. No better place to eat the local food than to do so where the locals do so. We walked to Plaza de Tavernes de la Valldigna and had the most delicious tapas in one of the three tapas bars near the square. Yes, we sat on plastic chairs between the locals, yes the waiter can only speak Spanish and yes the furniture inside is ugly. The food was delicious!
We ended our lovely citytrip with a fresh breakfast bought in El Mercado Central that we enjoyed eating on Plaza Ayuntamiento. Freely we entered the Ayuntamiento and El Edificio de los Correos. Visiting these two buildings and the square that have been my backyard for six months was a beautiful end of the short but wonderful girls trip.
Valencia, see you soon!
L.
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