Beach and Cabanyal

15 February 2020 - We're starting to get lazy. We've done little of note this past week. 

Except on Monday, which was a beautiful day, with bright sun and temperatures in the mid-20s. After a morning video chat with our darling daughter and grandson, and lunch on the terrace, we rode to the beach. We sat on a bench on the promenade, in the shade - it was that hot. I tried taking candid shots of passing walkers and cyclists, but had set the shutter speed too slow or not adjusted the focus properly, or both. The backgrounds were sharp, the subjects blurred. I think it was mostly motion blur. I'll know better next time. I read for the rest of the hour or so we stayed. Couple of old pensioners sitting on a park bench, reading. Pathetic.

The one successful candid

We started the walk back going through Cabanyal, once a separate village inhabited mostly by fisher folk, now a beach-side suburb. It's slowly being gentrified but still has some rough edges when you get right away from the beach. 

Typical modest Cabanyal residences - tarted up a little

It's a great place for street art, though. 

By the time we got about a quarter of the way home, we were tired enough, and it was late enough, that we decided to take the subway from Marítim-Serrería. We got off at Xátiva and walked to the Le Roi bakery across the street from where we stayed last year. I'm addicted to their pan rustico bread. It's expensive compared to supermarket bread - €3 ($4.50) versus €1.50 a loaf - but definitely worth it.

On Tuesday, it was cooler but still with some sun. We mostly stuck around home. We did get out for a shop at Mercadona, to replenish cava supplies - very important - and pick up other necessaries.

Yesterday, Shelley was coming for dinner in the evening. We'd decided to do take-out paella. She recommended a place she'd found when she was staying near here a few years ago. It's on the big avenue a block from our flat - Peris y Valero (named for Juan, a local 19th-century politician and journalist) - and down a few blocks. 

Velarte is a take-out paella specialist and has been making it, it claims, for over 100 years, since the 19th century. It is also the Guinness record holder for largest paella ever made - in 1992, during Fallas. It was big enough to serve over 100,000 raciones (portions). 

World's largest paella, cooking - those are people around it

You have to order what you want before noon and they have it ready to pick up anytime up to 3 pm. (Lunch in Spain is typically from 1 to 3 or so.) We walked over in the morning and placed our order - we could have done it online - then went back at 2 to pick it up. We'd have to reheat in the evening.

On both trips out, we walked back along Avenida de Reino de Valencia (King of Valencia Avenue - which I had mistakenly been thinking was Queen of Valencia for some reason.) When did the last king of Valencia reign? Truth is, Valencia has only ever very briefly been completely independent, and that was back in the middle ages. Up until the early 18th century, it was officially designated the Kingdom of Valencia, but always subsumed under some other more powerful monarchy, initially the Aragonese, later the Bourbons and Hapsburgs. The reason I mention King of Valencia Avenue is that, like the other grand avenues (gran vias) in the centre of Valencia, they're lined with posh apartment buildings, some with quite lovely architecture. Herewith, a couple of samples.

Shelley showed up a little after six and rang our intercom, and waited, and waited, and rang again. Meanwhile, we were in the apartment, tsk-tsking about Shelley being late - as usual - and not hearing anything. Finally, I WhatsApped to ask if she was lost and she responded that she'd been standing at our door for 20 minutes! The buzzer didn't work, but the door opening button did. I still haven't informed Guillermo but must.

A pleasant evening was had, much alcohol consumed, too many sweets eaten - we and Shelley had both bought dessert - and much nattering of little consequence engaged in. The Renarte paella, a Paella Valenciana, was judged excellent, except for the snails, still in their shells. Snails are a traditional part of a Paella Valenciana, along with broad green beans, fava beans, chicken and rabbit, but are often left out because - well, because they're disgusting. Shelley tried one and said it was okay, but I noticed she didn't eat any more. There was quite a bit of the paella left over, even though we'd only ordered three raciones. We saved it, of course, but the snails were carefully picked and flicked into the garbage.

The next day, Thursday, Karen and I actually got out of the flat before noon. We walked through the centre to Jardin de Montforte (Montfort Garden), rated as the best public garden by some website or other I'd been reading. It's on the other side of the Túria Gardens (the dry river-bed park system), just "downstream" from the Royal Gardens and the Fine Arts Museum. We had tried to see it a few years ago, but it was closed for a private function or something. Today, it was open. 

It's a charming place, with neatly pruned shrubbery, statues, fountains, walkways and - at this time of year - not a lot in bloom. The garden was built in the mid-19th century on the site of an orchard just outside the city walls. The guy who had it built, the Marquis de San Juan, left it to his wife when he died. She in turn left it to a niece, who married a guy named Montforte - hence the name. Today, it's circled by modern high-rise apartment blocks.

One of the modern apartment blocks overlooking the garden - but from the other side

There weren't many other people there this day - a few sightseers, a few highschoolers on lunch break - despite it being a lovely day. We spent quite awhile, and I took way too many pictures. I particularly liked the Patio de los Leones, a later addition, with sculptures by some dude named José Bellver Collazos (never heard of him.) Then we biked back to the flat for lunch.

Karen wanted to sew on our sunny terrace, so I went off on my own to wander. I popped into a few shops along Calle Colón - one of the few places shops are open at siesta time - in search of a new cap, but couldn't find anything suitable that I could afford. My aim had been to go over to MUVIM and take some pictures around the grounds, which are filled with Roman statuary, but I never made it. I ended up wandering in the centre and in the streets behind MUVIM. I came back with not much to show for it in the way of photographs.

El Patriarca - facade of seminary housing art museum

Palace of the Marquis of Two Waters - a new angle

Passage between El Patriarca and Nau university building

Friday was International Caitlin Day, aka our darling daughter's birthday. We weren't able to communicate with her much - other than by Facebook post - because they were off into London and then up to Northumberland for a weekend away. We were going to Shelley's for din-dins in the evening. I went out for a shop at Consum in the morning, but other than that, we moped around the flat.

We set out for Shelley's about 5:30, found an interesting little chocolatería near us where we bought Shelley one of her favourite treats, chocolate and orange rind. There was another stop for wine and we made it to Shelley's a little after six. 

Shelley cooking my dinner

Shelley served lovely appetizers out on her leafy terrace, then a very tasty baked dish with chicken thighs, chorizo sausage, potato and tomato - and garlic, of course. We washed it down with the usual copious quantities of wine, beer and cider. Shelley had bought me a traditional Asturian cider (from Asturia province in northern Spain, on the Bay of Biscay), which was interesting -  cloudy and not at all sweet. 

It was almost 11 by the time we biked home. The city centre was surprisingly quiet, although the bike path along in front of the train station and down Ruzafa St. was still whizzing with cyclists, including Uber Eats deliverers, and folks on electric stand-up scooters.

This morning, Karen and I walked over to Le Roi for my pan rustico. I think we're going to bike to the beach this afternoon. It's only supposed to go up to 18C, but with sun.