Found Wandering

9 February 2020 - We did not meet Ms. Boyes for a drink on Friday night after our aborted lunch date earlier in the day. Geriatric inertia set in. I did have to go out later in the evening for an emergency chocolate run, though.

On Saturday, we were to have lunch with Shelley - for real this time. But the morning was spent, at least in part, corresponding with Guillermo, one of our co-hosts, about the lack of an iron in the flat. 

In one cupboard, we found an ironing board, a can of spray starch and a spritzer of Fabreze, but no iron. Guillermo suggested various other places to look - we'd already searched high and low - but no iron could be found. In the end, he said he would lend us his. I asked if it was his only iron, because we'd need one off and on for the rest of our stay. No problem, he said, he never used his anyway. Yes, but does your wife? In any case, it was arranged that he would drop it off sometime that afternoon.

In the meantime, we'd settled on an agenda with Shelley. We would call for her at noon and go walkabout in Carmén, looking for a lunch restaurant she remembered from last year - or failing that, one Karen remembered. We got bikes from the station about two blocks from the flat, where our street meets Queen of Valencia Avenue. We were able to ride most of the way, right through the centre of town, on separated bike lanes - it's such a great city for cycling - and got to Shelley's pretty close to noon. 

Both the restaurants in question were supposedly at or near Plaça del Tossal, a five- or ten-minute walk from Ms. Boyes' place. Shelley's choice was right on the square, but did not have a menu del dia - a fixed-price, multi-course lunch menu - which was our first requirement, and appeared to be serving only brunchy things. Karen's restaurant - which I think is actually one she remembers from a few years ago that we had already discovered was out of business - was not where  it should have been given the address Karen had. What next?

Street art spotted in Carmén

I suggested we head for Plaça del Carme where we might be able to sit outside in the sun at a place Karen and I have been to a few times over the years. It took us awhile to get there, even though we were less than ten minutes away. Carmén is a rabbit warren of narrow winding streets and blind squares, it's very easy to get lost. I'd forgotten the name, but the restaurant is called Maria Mandiles. It was always cheap and surprisingly good - whenever we had lunch there on a weekday, that is, when they offer a menu del dia. As Karen had warned us, many restaurants here don't offer fixed-price menus on Saturday and Sunday, and that was the case with Maria Mandiles.

Plaça del Carme

By this time, though, we were tired of searching and took a table on the terrace - which was not quite in the sun. The place was packed, which was unexpected given it was well before the traditional Spanish lunchtime of 2 pm. The large table of young people behind us were tourists, and some tables were only having pre-lunch drinks and nibbles. The service was abysmal. There were only two wait staff on, and the young guy waiting on our table was clueless. It took us over a half an hour just to get drinks. The food took longer. When it came, it was, as we remembered, quite decent - but a good deal more expensive than Karen and I have been used to paying: over €20 each, without dessert.

More street art in Carmén

We meandered around Carmén for awhile, then crossed the inner ring road at Torre del Quart, walked past the Botanical Gardens and on a few blocks to Gran Vía de Ramón y Cajal - the avenue up which I often jogged when we were staying just off it a few years ago. We walked up the Gran Via to the Turia park system and along it, past the rugby club and the baseball school - both going full tilt - to Torres de Serranos. 

Torres de Serranos

Torre del Quart

This is the other of the two surviving late-14th-century city-wall gates. I'm always impressed by them. The scale is so colossal, and they're still evocatively pocked with shell holes, apparently dating from a siege of the city by Napoleonic forces.

We came up at this point because we wanted to take Shelley to the Museum of the Rocas. The rocas are big decorated carriages - or rocks, so named because they're huge and solid - that are dragged through the streets at the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Christian celebration of the eucharist that takes place in June. It's a big deal in Valencia and has been for hundreds of years. There are parades and theatrical presentations, people in fancy dress, etc. Some of the rocas still used date from the 1500s. 

Rocas museum - mythological turtle monster

The museum houses the rocas, the gigantes - 20-foot-high costumes that marchers wear and cabezas grandes (big heads), huge masks, also worn in the parades. Entry to the museum is always free. Unfortunately, the biggest room with the oldest rocas was closed for some reason this day. There was still plenty to see on the three floors: costumes, some of them very ornate, a few rocas, the gigantes and cabezas grandes, as well as videos explaining what goes on and why. 

Rocas museum - gigante

We spent almost an hour there, then wandered back through the centre. We checked out Almudin, the old granary that on earlier visits has been used as an art exhibit space. It now appears to be mainly a performance hall. It was open and we stuck our heads in. There are interesting 17th century frescos high up on the walls - above the level of the piled grain, perhaps? 

Miracle woman on street of the miracle

Elegant street near the centre

Plaza de Virgen (basilica on left, cathedral on right) in late sun

We noodled around through some of the surrounding streets, walked through Plaza de Virgen, and ended up back at Shelley's a little after 5. We had a drink, but everybody was tired. Karen and I rode home about seven. Shelley was heading up to Madrid by train the next day for a conference at which she was speaking. We probably won't see her again before Thursday.

On Sunday, I went out in the morning, thinking to do a little grocery shopping. Karen said she was sure the supermarkets would be closed, and she was right. I did find a little fruiterer run by south Asians that was open, and bought a couple of oranges.

We had lunch/dinner on the lower terrace at about 2:30 - leftover pork medallions and fried potatoes from Karen's restaurant meal of the day before, plus salad and veg - then  sat on the upper terrace for awhile, reading in the sun. It was surprisingly hot given the temperature was supposedly only about 18C. It's quite protected up there.

A little before 4, we headed out to IVAM, the Modern Art Museum of Valencia. There's an exhibit of work by Jean Dubuffet, a French artist of the first half of the 20th century. We rode bikes along the paths beside the inner ring road to get there - probably about 20 or 25 minutes. The exhibit was, as always at this place, well mounted, but the explanatory material - except for a brief blurb in the IVAM brochure - was in Spanish and Valecian only, no English. And we didn't like the art much. He sounds like he was an interesting guy, but he embraced what he called art brut, which to my eyes, for the most part, was just ugly and primitive. We looked at everything - it's a big exhibit - but didn't dawdle.

Jean Dubuffet's art brut - raw indeed

We walked home through Carmén and the city centre. It was quite cool by the time we got back to the flat a little before seven. Today, Monday, it's supposed to be sunny all day and go up to 25C. We're going to bike down to the beach this afternoon.

Carmén: wall mural depicting Jane Jacobs...with a snow globe? with a Toronto streetscape?