{"id":4080,"date":"2023-09-12T22:30:03","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T21:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4080"},"modified":"2023-09-13T05:19:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T04:19:06","slug":"week-34-valencia-mainly","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4080","title":{"rendered":"Week 34: Valencia, mainly"},"content":{"rendered":"

My wife underwent surgery in Valencia on August 21st. It was not serious, certainly nothing life threatening, but it did require an overnight stay at the hospital. So I reserved a room at a hotel near the hospital, and spent some hours walking around Valencia, an enjoyable visit despite the high temperatures that made walking in the city in the afternoon a rather sweaty affair.<\/p>\n

34_1<\/strong>
\nBut I start with a few pictures from home, including the beautiful magic cactus which once again rewarded us for the care my wife gives it:
\n\"DSF2964\"<\/p>\n

34_2<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday, the day before my wife’s surgery, we went for lunch at Hostal Maruja:
\n\"R007880\"<\/p>\n

34_3<\/strong>
\nThe view from our table:
\n\"R007881\"<\/p>\n

34_4<\/strong>
\nBoquerones fritos<\/em>:
\n\"R007882\"<\/p>\n

34_5<\/strong>
\nChipirones<\/em>:
\n\"R007883\"<\/p>\n

34_6<\/strong>
\nSepia a la plancha<\/em>:
\n\"R007884\"<\/p>\n

34_7<\/strong>
\nOn the way out, a car with an amusing decoration on the dusty windshield:
\n\"R007878\"<\/p>\n

34_8<\/strong>
\nOn Monday morning, we drove to Valencia and checked into the hospital. My wife was taken away around noon, and I then went out to walk around the centre, in slightly challenging temperatures:
\n\"DSF2903\"<\/p>\n

34_9<\/strong>
\nI took the metro to Col\u00c3\u00b3n and passed this incredibly cool building, the Valencian Cultural Centre:
\n\"DSF2905\"<\/p>\n

34_10<\/strong>
\nI walked towards the Mercado Central. Outside, there is an outdoor clothes and junk market:
\n\"DSF2906\"<\/p>\n

34_11<\/strong>
\nSeeking shade:
\n\"DSF2907\"<\/p>\n

34_12<\/strong>
\nThe entrance to the Mercado Central:
\n\"DSF2918\"<\/p>\n

34_13<\/strong>
\nReal tomatoes:
\n\"DSF2912\"<\/p>\n

34_14<\/strong>
\nCounting his cents:
\n\"DSF2911\"<\/p>\n

34_15<\/strong>
\nLatin American stand, colour-coordinated:
\n\"DSF2913\"<\/p>\n

34_16<\/strong>
\nLittle dog among big people:
\n\"DSF2916\"<\/p>\n

34_17<\/strong>
\nA window with various left-wing messages:
\n\"DSF2920\"<\/p>\n

34_18<\/strong>
\nMore messages in a window, some internally inconsistent:
\n\"DSF2921\"<\/p>\n

34_19<\/strong>
\nAn ice cream place with an attitude (“polla” is Spanish slang for penis):
\n\"DSF2930\"<\/p>\n

34_20<\/strong>
\nA group of people seeking shade near the cathedral. It was a brutally hot afternoon:
\n\"DSF2933\"<\/p>\n

34_21<\/strong>
\nI went into the cathedral, partly to have a reprieve from the heat, and partly do have a look at a very impressive, ornate church:
\n\"DSF2935\"<\/p>\n

34_22<\/strong>
\nAs I sometimes do when visiting such a place, I lit two candles for my mother, one from and one from my sister. When I do that, I take a picture with my phone and send it to my sister:
\n\"DSF2937\"<\/p>\n

34_23<\/strong>
\nThe cathedral contains two important relics. This, a somewhat grisly one, is the arm of Valencia’s patron saint, San Vicente Mart\u00c3\u00adr, killed by the Romans in the early 4th century:
\n\"DSF2941\"<\/p>\n

34_24<\/strong>
\nThe other important object is the Holy Chalice, allegedly used by Jesus during the Last Supper. Of course, this is unprovable, but the cup has been determined to be from the 1st century, and from that part of the Middle East. So who knows?
\n\"DSF2946\"<\/p>\n

34_25<\/strong>
\nOutside on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, a somewhat incongruous sight–a polar bear mascot in the middle of August. The person inside the suit must have been melting:
\n\"DSF2948\"<\/p>\n

34_26<\/strong>
\nA bit further down the square was a much more fitting installation:
\n\"DSF2949\"<\/p>\n

34_27<\/strong>
\nIn the evening, I went to the main beach of Valencia. It is lined with bars and restaurants, among them La Pepica, 125 years old and claiming to have invented seafood paella (the original Valencian paella is made with chicken and rabbit):
\n\"DSF2954\"<\/p>\n

34_28<\/strong>
\nTwo guys looking over the beach from the roof of one of the hotels:
\n\"DSF2955\"<\/p>\n

34_29<\/strong>
\nAfter sunset, the view of a restaurant on the beach:
\n\"DSF2958\"<\/p>\n

34_30<\/strong>
\nI walked to the tram station to get back to my hotel, and photographed this lovely scene along the way, a neighbourhood bar with people enjoying the evening:
\n\"DSF2960\"<\/p>\n

34_31<\/strong>
\nTuesday morning I walked to the hospital to retrieve my wife and drive home to Alicante. On the way, I photographed this very typical Spanish scene, a woman having her morning coffee. Breakfast is a meal that many people here eat outside the home:
\n\"DSF2961\"<\/p>\n

34_32<\/strong>
\nBack home, I returned to my daily habits which include having a beer on Playa San Juan and watching the human traffic:
\n\"1030505\"<\/p>\n

34_33<\/strong>
\nA fancy lifeguard station, new this year:
\n\"1030501\"<\/p>\n

34_34<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning, I cycled to Villajoyosa. Due to the fiestas patronales<\/em>, the streets were even more colourful than usual:
\n\"1030515\"<\/p>\n

34_35<\/strong>
\n\"1030516\"<\/p>\n

34_36<\/strong>
\nBread delivery:
\n\"1030511\"<\/p>\n

34_37<\/strong>
\nI stopped at the harbour before riding home. The seagulls were out in force:
\n\"1030526\"<\/p>\n

34_38<\/strong>
\n\"1030523\"<\/p>\n

34_39<\/strong>
\nAnd finally, a woman riding a strange contraption:
\n\"1030522\"<\/p>\n

A full Valencia gallery can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My wife underwent surgery in Valencia on August 21st. It was not serious, certainly nothing life threatening, but it did require an overnight stay at the hospital. So I reserved a room at a hotel near the hospital, and spent some hours walking around Valencia, an enjoyable visit despite the high temperatures that made walking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3855,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4080"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4080"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4089,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4080\/revisions\/4089"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}