Last weekend, Larry, our friend Bayard, and I went for a 5 day/4 night road trip adventure across Spain to Valencia, Alicante, and then back through Toledo. It was a trip of many "firsts": first time "CouchSurfing", first time walking in a Spanish bull-fighting arena, first time seeing fireworks that I thought would end the world......let's take this all from the beginning.
CouchSurfing: this website was created in 2004 as a world-wide, online hospitality service , with the objective of connecting travelers with locals who can offer lodging or hosting during their stay. Having heard about this new phenomenon over the past few years from friends who had tried it out, I remained skeptical of showing up to a stranger's house and sleeping on their couch! But when you're trying to travel on a budget, and traveling with two other guys (strength in numbers!), having a free place to stay for 3 nights can save you 180 euros combined, at least! Plus, when you really look into what CouchSurfing is all about, it's not as scary as it seems. From the members' profiles alone you can get a sense of what the people are like, and select those who don't appear to be sketch-balls, and seem to have things in common with you. Also, past surfers leave references and comments attesting to how their hosts were, so you can get a sense of what staying with a certain person would be like. Finally, once you get in contact with that person, emailing back and forth allows you to get to know one another at a basic level, so as not to feel like you're showing up to a complete stranger.
Our first 'Couch-Search' for Valencia lead us to Elodie and Manu, a Belgian girl and Valencian guy who had rave reviews from their past surfers, and were willing to accommodate three visitors. They lived just outside the city, and seemed cool. So we met them upon our arrival in Valencia Friday evening, and their hippyish appearance and laid-back demeanor allowed us to put some of our apprehensions to rest. We followed them as they took us around the center of the city, and then back to their apartment, where there was a guest room with a bed and couch waiting for us. (The place was very comfortable, very clean, but had an overpowering smell that we could just not describe!) The next day we woke up to what would be the best part of staying with Manu and Elodie: breakfast! They prepared the most delicious fresh orange juice I have ever tasted, along with toast, jams, and coffee. It was great (though the breakfast table conversations were a bit lacking). The second breakfast we had with them was churros and chocolate, a typical Spanish breakfast (good, but still nothing like the croissants and pain au chocolats of a typical French breakfast!)
Asides from a free place to stay and breakfast, the other big advantage of CouchSurfing is getting to know someone who lives in the place you're visiting. This provides you with a local's insight on what to do and see, as well as someone to tell you about local customs and traditions that you would otherwise not know about. For us, this made our third day in Valencia incredibly better than it would have otherwise been, and possibly my favorite day of the trip. Having arrived Friday, visited the Aquarium and done a lot of walking and touring Saturday, our idea was to leave to Alicante Sunday after eating
lunch at the famous paella restaurant on the beach. But Sunday morning, Elodie and Manu told us about a couple big events going on in Valencia that day, which they encouraged us not to miss. The first of those was one of my top three favorite experiences of the trip: a Flamenco festival inside the bull-fighting arena! All the Andalusian Flamenco clubs of the Valencia community were gathered for a morning of performances, in the huge Colosseum known as la Plaza de Toros (almost every big city in Spain has one, even Zamora, but only some remain authentic and are still used for bull-fighting.) As cliche as it may be, seeing a Flamenco show was one of the things I had most been looking forward to while traveling in Spain; getting to see something this spectacular by complete chance made it even cooler! We even managed to get down onto the actual bull-rink (where special tickets were needed), and got to sit right up close to the stage and walk around where all the dances were gathered. Some of those dresses were fantastic, not to mention their performances!From there we headed to the beach for our lunch reservation at La Pepica, a well-known paelleria where Ernest Hemingway frequently ate. This restaurant can sit up to 450 people, and is right on the beach; getting a window table here was a real treat. Watching the chefs prepare giant paellas was quite fascinating as well. The paella we ordered was the house special made with seafood, and it definitely surpassed our expectations.
Follow that up with a siesta on the beach....we couldn't have been happier!That evening we went back to the city center for the traditional event that marks the beginning of Valencia's annual "Fallas", a huge street festival in March where floats and statues are displayed in the streets (and later burnt). Though this festival is not till March, the last Sunday of February marks the "opening" the Fallas season, and is celebrated with a street parade and ceremony known as "La Crida". Thousands of people gathered by the old towers, were there was an areal acrobatic performance, a presentation by the city mayoress, and the most intense fireworks I've seen in my life. The explosions in the grand finale were more like the end of the world than entertainment! Manu and Elodie were defitely right in telling us to stay an extra night to catch that excitement...good thing we listened!
After our third night in Valencia, and our third breakfast at Manu and Elodie's, we packed up and headed south to Alicante for the afternoon. I must mention at this point, the one downfall of the CouchSurfing experience, and how it resulted in us telling a small fib in order to regain our traveling freedom. Though our hosts were incredibly generous and kind, letting us stay with them, showing us around, and feeding us breakfast three days in a row, they seemed to expect to do more 'hosting' than we had in mind. Rather than asking us what our plans were and making open suggestions for joint activities, they acted as though we would follow them wherever they took us without asking any questions or having anything else planned. This, for certain types of travelers who lack the independence of having their own car, or who come with an open calendar and nothings particular in mind, would be a great way to get to know a place. But we had come with the idea that we'd mostly be doing our own thing, and got the feeling this left them a bit disappointed. So when Monday morning came and they asked if we would go with them to a beach town before heading to Alicante, we knew we had to find a reason to part ways. We only had two days left to see Alicante and Toledo and drive back to Zamora (less than we had initially planned), so we knew it wasn't an option. To avoid feeling bad in disappointing them again, we told them we'd be heading straight to Toledo from Valencia, but would look forward to going the next time we visted. As we took the road south towards Alicante after our departure, there was a lasting paranoia that they would somehow pass us on the highway and wonder why we weren't heading west like we had said!
Alicante reminded me a bit of Nice--a coastal city with a nice beach-front strip and boardwalk, as well as an elevated viewpoint overlooking the Mediterranean cost. We had just a short visit there, so we walked around the old center and then took the elevator ride up to the castle for the nice view of the city. Then it was back in the car and off to Toledo.Now had I known how much I would love Toledo, I would have traded the detour to Alicante for an extra afternoon there. Toledo is probably my favorite city of Spain so far. Sitting on practically an island, the old city is surrounded on three sides by the river Tajo, and definitely merits its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage sight. It has a lot of interesting history and monuments, as it was at one point the capital of Spain, the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Spain, home to El Greco, and a city where Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexisted for years. The Cathedral of Toledo is an impressive one, and holds the title for second largest in Spain, after Sevilla's. It's galeries are filled with artwork from El Greco, Goya, Raphael, and others, as well as beautiful gold work (an artisan specialty of the city), and architecture. We visited a few other churches, one of which housed El Greco's
famous painting The Burial of Count Orgaz, another that had many more of his paintings on display, and a Jesuit Church whose twin towers were the highest point in the city and offered nice views. One museum that we opted not to visit was a display of ancient torture instruments from the middle ages! Intriguing, but no thanks. Walking around the old narrow streets of the city center, and then taking the scenic road with panoramic views across the river from the city, our full day's visit of Toledo was a successful one, and made me want to return at some point for a second trip.
All in all, our road-trip was a sunny, fun, and memorable one, and hopefully won't be the last.
Did I mention it's already feeling like spring over here?! I love it!!!
For the rest of the pictures from our trip, click here.
famous painting The Burial of Count Orgaz, another that had many more of his paintings on display, and a Jesuit Church whose twin towers were the highest point in the city and offered nice views. One museum that we opted not to visit was a display of ancient torture instruments from the middle ages! Intriguing, but no thanks. Walking around the old narrow streets of the city center, and then taking the scenic road with panoramic views across the river from the city, our full day's visit of Toledo was a successful one, and made me want to return at some point for a second trip.All in all, our road-trip was a sunny, fun, and memorable one, and hopefully won't be the last.
Did I mention it's already feeling like spring over here?! I love it!!!
For the rest of the pictures from our trip, click here.
