Returning to Origin
This time with new friends
Feb 28, 2025
39.4738° N, 0.3756° W
Day 1: Madrid to Valencia
Boys trip to Valenciaga. Early morning train. Early morning naps.
According to Scott, we still got a ways to go.
Random café. Random bar. Coffee, breakfast, beer?
After check-in, Jake took us on a tour of his city.
First stop Mercat Central de Valencia. Pretty cool! Not sure why the name is French. Maybe a French guy started it. I really wanted some empanadas. No dice. Luckily, lunch was just around the corner. Fire lunch. Don’t remember what we had.
Post-lunch lethargy hit so we went on the quest for coffee. A few steps and shot of espresso got us moving again through the city of Valencia.
The city was certainly Spanish, giving Madrid-esque vibes but more quaint and beachy. The palm trees lining the tree gave a little reminder of home and my preference of cities quickly changed. Who could refute that bustling city vibes with a hint of beach charm would be the best of two already great things. We walked along the streets, hoping to escape the rain and admire the preparations for Las Fallas.
A quick Q from Jake led to our free entry into the Torres de Serranos. A nice view of El Carmen barrio and the city.
We headed home to prep for our dinner reservation and stopped for weekend groceries. Since we had Mario Kart, there was one essential purchase we couldn’t miss: Estrella, preferably in can form.
We ripped a few races prior to dinner, in a way, almost earning our hunger for dinner.
Lambchops, seafood and vino prepped us for a long night of Catan in rainy Valencia.
Many a botella de vino consumed, Connie’s first catan game won, and a tasty resaca waiting for us the next morning.
Eyes open, always watching
Peaking!
Intimidating lens
Faux Coliseum
Me and my framing
Unsolicited picture taken of us!
From the rooftops
Candid!
El Carmen
Pointy thing
Less elegant photo of me doing my thing
El Carmen... framed
Majestic
Oh how I missed palm trees
Day 2: Playa de Malvarrosa, El Trompo, & Portland Alehouse
Woke up to Scottie doing 500 pushups. 5 pushups every 30 seconds for 36 minutes. Not sure if that math adds up. Inspired me anyways. Stopped at 100. I’ve got Iowa some blood in me, but they put something in the water and I’ve been missing out.
Breakfast at home and then set out for our one shot at a beach day. Because it was so rainy (mid-February, what did we expect), we had a short window this Saturday afternoon to really even see and walk along the beach.
Getting to the beach, Jake stealthily surprised us with a route that led us to a rather grand reveal of the Museo de las Ciencias and the Oceanográphic de Valencia. We turn the corner and see these massive architectural masterpieces, two staples of the Valencia experience. While our museum day wasn’t until tomorrow, we got to walk by and marvel at the grandeur. Naturally, we had a girl (cute) who took a photo for us. Wonder why I chose her to ask.
Stunning
She did pretty good
We decided to make the trek by foot to the beach, exploring some parts of Valencia even Jake was unfamiliar with. The sites weren’t all that exciting, but post-espresso chat with the boys always hits.
Por fin, we made it to the beach. Scott and I said we would jump in when we got there, but that dream was quickly shattered by high winds, murky water, and a lack of towels. We went and dipped our toes in the water and I took some delightful photos of Scott and Jake. Water was brisk to say the least.
Boys Boys Boys
Just precious
#1
#2
Connie didn't like the water
Call me Huck.
While the beach day wasn’t quite what we were hoping for, aperitivos and lunch blew us away. A cold beer on the water before some of the best marisco and paella I’ve ever had at El Trompo.
First up was the appetizers: cuttlefish and a bold choice to try the “squid in its ink”. Both incredible. Turns out skid ink is a superfood. Who would have thought.
Then, we tried the traditional Paella Valenciana with rabbit. Delicious, don’t get me wrong, but what always throws me for a loop and then rocks my world is the Paella Negro. It looks like a giant platter of tar, but then hits you with a flavor pallet like you’ve never experienced. The rice itself is incredibly rich complemented by the shrimp, oysters, and octopus.
Casa de Paella
Connie post-squid
Fried Cuttlefish
Squid in it's Ink
Arroz Negro: como tar
Paella Valenciana
Quick halftime on the day. A few rounds of Kart. Then, we transitioned from the best and most Spanish food there is to the best and most American food there is: nachos and burgers (neither are American) at Portland Alehouse. We put back a few and watched the Real Madrid game. A lot of beer and a lot of dairy was going to have my stomach feel some type of way. Totally worth it.
Portland Alehouse Legend & his guests
Our little nook
Great style
"Dude are you wearing the same outfit as me?"
More Catan tonight. Más vino. Even more happiness.
Day 3: El Acuario y Verona
Breakfast at home. 0 pushups. Otra resaca.
Today we got to explore the aquarium. The biggest aquarium in Spain and maybe Europe? All I know is there are 42 million liters of water in that thing and it is freakin huge. We saw the classics: sharks, penguins, and dolphins oh my. We rushed to make it to the dolphin show and it did not disappoint. Some of those dolphins might even be better trained than Taco. The jellyfish were trippy. I ordered a few espresso martinis from the Flamingo Deck. We realized sharks are wayyyyy bigger than we thought. Luckily, that realization came from the cardboard cutout and not behind the glass. But the craziest thing was there was an actual beluga whale. How in the world did they get that thing there? And are the native to the Mediterranean? All questions they probably answered in the signs that I usually don’t read in English, and definitely didn’t read in Spanish. The planetarium was hard enough, and I even had a translator. Then we walked under the tunnel of fishies. Equally as trippy.
Look at this guys. Incredible.
Crazy
It's so squishy
What is that nose for
From the bottom, less scary
How in the world
A classic
Getting back to the city after the aquarium was quite literally a walk in the park. Beautiful orange groves and park paths ran adjacent to the Main Street, and we enjoyed a leisurely walk home.
Connie and I searched for our post cards. We ate some honest greens. And volvimos a casa.
Gorgina
Scotty P
Jake had a dinner with his old host family, so Connie, Scottie, and I indulged in maybe a few too many rounds of Kart. By the time Jake returned, we were properly prepared for otra game of Catan.
Our preparation quickly lead to a hankering for late night pizza. Our Air BnB had about 1000 of the Verona pizza menus, so we thought why not. They even had a deal on pizza and beer. Perfecto.
Getting there: classic. Getting home: hilarious. Fully equipped with all our goodies, proper shenanigans and tomfoolery occurred in a beautufil and comical fashion. The type that encapsulates “boy will be boys” in the most honest, heart felt, and sincere way. As it should be. Verona, you will always have a place in my heart, my stomach, and my liver.
Pure final day delusion
Day 4: Valencia to Madrid
Last day, travel day. Our train wasn’t until 5:30. Plenty of time to enjoy the city. Issue: air bnb check out at 11, turning time to enjoy, into time to kill. I wanted to go to the science center. I was quickly diswayed from this idea on the premise of we had luggage and they didn’t want to. Fair enough. Then ensued more shenagins of cafe hopping, more honest greens, playing catan online whilst sitting next to each other, and Scottie forgetting his phone charger.
Train home was a pinch. Home by 00:30. Work the next day!
What a trip.
