Revisiting Valencia happened almost 10 years after my first visit, and it lasted only 24hours. After an amazing wedding in the town of Benicarlo, we decided to spend some time here.
We arrived at the Estacio de Nord which by itself can be counted as a sightseeing point. Our hotel ABCyou was walking distance and pretty central. I highly recommend it for both short and longer stays. You should check it out.

Even though my first visit was in August, and now I visited in November, I think there was no difference in the temperature, maybe I am over exaggerating, a bit but it was 25 degrees in November, which made it the perfect sightseeing day.
Arriving on Sunday evening, we met friends at the Mercato Colon, and had great tapas there. Afterwards we’ve continued alone around the city centre, passing by the most important spots like the Plaza Ronda, Plaza Reina and Plaça de l’Ajuntament.

As real spaniards we had second dinner around 10pm which wasn’t that spectacular, but included tapas as well. And then we were off to horizontal, going towards our hotel, we stumbled upon the Carrer del Comte d’Altea street, which was full of bars and dinner spots.

I’ve been to Valencia before but not at THE beach. Our host took us then to the lake and to some not so touristy spots, so now the devotion was based on the in town spots. Walking along the Jardines del Turia, the river transformed in a park which is amazing, apart from the fact that you can still hear the cars. Never the less, it has playgrounds, bars, the Guliver sculpture park, and it is pretty easy to arrive to the Arts and Sciences Park.

After an hour of walking, we stopped by in a random cafeteria and for 6 euros we had two half bocadillos and two orange juices. I don’t remember when was the last time I have seen these prices. Then, we had a stroll along the beach. All the restaurants were open and there was no outside spot available anymore, so we decided for another thing we haven’t tried and that was horchata and fartons. The drink was not something I would repeat, even though it has its variations for example almond horchatta in Valldemossa in Mallorca. The pastries were okay.

Valencian horchatta – plant based drunj made used tiger nuts (chuffa)
Fartons – sweet pastry with powdered sugar served with horchatta

I was a bit tired of the regular tapas, as that was something that we ate 4 days in a row. Due the fact that it was Monday and many places are closed there, we picked one recommended by Michelin Guide, that had their famous tapas, like tuna with 7 spices, Michirones – brown giant beans, then suffed red pepper and a cod fish canapes with aioli which was my favourite. So if this sounded inviting then visit the Casa Montana in Valencia and make sure to have a reservation.

We wanted to test the tram in the city, it was well spent 2 euros per person, and we arrived in the old town, where unfortunately many things were not working. Monday & siesta combined. You could still find some open spots with locals having their snacks. Then we continued towards the Parliament square and decided to spend the rest of our time here in the Dulce De Leche cafeteria. I do not remember when was the last time when I sat for a cake somewhere, but even on 25 degrees this was a cozy feeling. The boutique has way too much choice and everything looked more than inviting, so even though a chain I highly recommend it.

We took our bags from the Hotel and on the line 5 from Colon metro station we were at the airport in 20minutes. The airport is small it has 22 gates, out of which 1-4 were for UK flights, and the rest for EU ones, there is a big ALE HOP store 2-3 eateries and a Desigual store, so not so much to do.

And the photos below are from our time in 2014 when we were at the Marina by night in all stylish bars which even 10 years later they look super inviting.

I have a very close friend that lives in Valencia with his family, born and raised there and I think I love Valencia more because of this fact rather than the beauty factor. Of corse everyone says Barcelona is overrated, but I think that at first sight Barcelona brings all the beauty, and that for Valencia you need to go on a few first dates. And for sure i will, and definitively in winter months.

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