Monday, July 7, 2014

Even more Sightseeing

We finished up with

  • The cathedral (which includes what may or may not be the Holy Grail)



Interior of the Valencia Cathedral


  • These floats and figures that are kept in a museum until the Feast of Corpus Christi







  • A walk on the beach


Saturday, July 5, 2014

Sightseeing in Valencia


We decided to skip our day trip to Gandia after several people told us it was not worth a visit. Instead we have been focusing on Valencia, particularly the old city where we are staying.  So far we've been to:
  • The central market where we had a great lunch and bought food to eat at the apartment. It is located in a wonderful old building - lots of fresh fish, fruit, and several stands with gourmet products from the area.  
  • The aquarium (biggest in Europe!), part of the Calatrava-designed Arts and Sciences Center. It is a fantastic series of themed buildings and outdoor areas. This is a cool video of jellyfish that my sister took (I added the corny music).




Apparently jellyfish are in the process of taking over the entire world. For more information, follow my soon to be published blog entitled "Jellyfish Are Taking Over the Entire World" or read this book 

                Stung! On Jelly Blooms and the Future of the Ocean, by Lisa-Ann Gershwin
  • The Toy Soldiers Museum (biggest in the world!) with over 100,000 pieces on display and 900,000 more in reserve. In addition to soldiers and battle scenes, there were figures of world leaders and some surprisingly violent dioramas. The following picture has been edited for content


Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Tapas and More Tapas

Last night we took a tapas tour. Three restaurants and about 15 different different types of tapas. I was the best at drinking from the parron*


This unidentifed member of our group came in a close second


*From Wikipedia - To drink from a porron, a beginner starts by bringing the spout very close to his mouth and tilts it forward slowly so the beak points towards the teeth. Once the liquid starts coming out, the porró is pulled away from the face while the drinker looks up. To finish drinking, a beginner lowers the porró and brings it back down and closer to the mouth again before stopping, quickly tilting the spout up at the last moment so there is no spillage.
A regular user can start and stop drinking from the porró with the spout held at a distance without spilling a drop.

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