Day Three: Burnt, Bath and Beyond.
I started the day with a bath and it wasn’t even my birthday! A bath in any hotel seems a bit of an extravagance, especially on a cruise ship but as it came as part of our cabin I thought I’d give it a go. It was like sitting in a giant sink but it did the job. Lyn also found out why I got charged for my phone data. Since we were last on here they’ve introduced a ship mobile network which roaming doesn’t cover. This kicks in whenever you’re out of port which is a pain but probably a good way for them to make a quick buck. I should imagine they’ll be a lot of people with unexpected large phone bills at the end of the month. Especially given the amount of people who couldn’t even read the instructions for the automated self temperature scans you have to do each day.
We tried to get off the ship as we had transfers for the city centre. Unfortunately nothing was moving. Apparently the port authorities wouldn’t allow anyone off as they requested ‘further information’ and despite being given this still wouldn’t let anyone disembark. I made an executive decision that we weren’t going to stand in line for an unknown amount of time which turned out to be good shout as 90 minutes late they finally started to let people off.
So Valencia… the only thing that springs to mind is it’s the setting for the final battle in the movie ‘El Cid’ staring Charlton Heston. The bit where they strap his dead body to a horse and send it down the beach. Lyn did better than me she said ‘orange’s’.
The coach dropped us of near Torres de Serranos which is a gate for the old medieval city so without any plan we walked through to see what we could see. This was the first time we had just got off the ship without a tour and to be fair we were a little lost with what to do. We started to follow our nose and Lyn’s led her straight to a tat shop. We eventually ended up in Plaza de la Virgen and the first issue of not being on a tour occurred. I thought Lyn was behind me and vice versa. I saw her fairly quickly and could see her getting angrier as she failed to notice the fat man in shorts and bright blue T-shirt right in front of her. I eventually caught her attention and then thought I’d better take some photos of her just to try and diffuse the situation. Ive had to delete most of them because the scowl didn’t really fit with the location.
We kept walking around with no idea where we were going which is the next issue of not going on a tour. You really do have to go with a plan, especially in a large city like Valencia. I was basically taking snaps of random buildings at one point taking a picture which turned out to be the bus/train station. We stopped at a cafe mainly to use the facilities but also to see where we were and decide where to go.
Valencia indoor market looked good so I set a destination on my phone and we started walking. Engrossed in the map we wandered into some road works. Lyn said ‘We’re on the wrong side of the barrier I think that man was about to tell us to ‘Fuck off’ but in Spanish whatever that might be’. Using my extensive knowledge of foreign languages I said ‘Probably El fuck off’o’.
The indoor market is a travel vloggers/roaming chefs wet dream. Gordon Ramsey and co would probably be waxing lyrical about all the ingredients. Here’s my go… There’s lots of shiny stuff and I recognised some of it as things you can eat. To be fair it’s an amazing building stuffed with all sorts and I can’t think of anything similar in the UK, certainly not in the South West.
Slightly concerned about missing the coach we headed back to the ship. Having known nothing about Valencia the result is I still don’t. I wouldn’t mind coming back for a long weekend though just to get to know it better. This is one of the things about doing a cruise, it’s a bit like a taster menu. You don’t get a full meal but it gives you an idea of what you might like to try more of.
The temperature continued to rise in the afternoon getting into the very high 20’s. The pool deck area started to look like a human version of all those hanging cured meats in the market. Our balcony was on the shaded side of the ship so we made use of that until it was time for cocktails and dinner
It’s our special day tomorrow and we’re in Ibiza.
Comments