Valencia

Back in September we took a short trip to Valencia, on Spain's Eastern Coast, just south of Barcelona. The kids just loved being on the beach and this was our first trip to the Mediterranean. By high-speed train (Ave) it is a very short trip, about 2 hours going 300 km per hour! I think that was the highlight of the trip for Antonio!

Since Fede had been here earlier in the year for the F1 Race, he was a great tour guide and found us a place to stay in the historic center of the city.

While the water was a bit chilly, the kids did enjoy just playing in the sand on the first day we arrived.

While on our way to lunch, we stumbled upon this incredible sandcastle!!

Fede took us to "Pepica's" for lunch -a famous, old-fashioned restaurant that serves an amazing Paella. And, if you're in Valencia, you've got to eat paella, which originates here.

After waiting 30 minutes for the Paella, we were hungry! We could hardly wait for Fede to take the picture before diving in!!

Day two in Valencia we devoted to visiting the portion of Valencia called the "City of Art and Sciences" which is this spectacular space-like complex of modern buildings that house a number of science related exhibitions (Imax, museums, aquarium, etc). Everyone had recommended the Aquarium above and beyond the rest, so we decided to do that.

It's neat to see that Valencia has both the old historic areas, but also new modern construction (which I personally think is amazing).

Once inside the Aquarium, we were not disappointed. Amongst the exhibits that we most enjoyed were the Beluga whales, the jelly fish, and the penguins.

The climax of the visit was perhaps the dolphin show :)

Although we didn't get any good pictures of the center of Valencia due to rain, we did learn that one of the churches there claims to house the Holy Grail! That was surprising. We couldn't see it up-close because of a wedding taking place, but from what I could make out it looked a lot more elaborate and elegant compared to what I expected.

Cheers to everyone.