Valencia Day 1 – Orange juice is good for you. Sometimes.

Agua de Valencia

We were determined to have a better culinary start to the day than the end of the previous one. So first thing, we went to the main market to get some supplies. This was just round the corner from our apartment. The market hall is a real beauty and has endless stalls selling cheese, vegetables, fish, fruit, and of course Valencia oranges. We bought about a ton of those and had them every day for breakfast, myself preferring them in juice form and Julie going for chunky slices. They are large, cheap, and utterly delicious. We also got some bread and other bits and pieces. Fridge stocked and ourselves breakfasted, we went out for our first proper exploration of Valencia on another gloriously sunny day.

One of the most interesting things we came across was the Llotja de la Seda (silk exchange). This was a beautiful medieval building with an airy spacious interior, and unusual spiral columns. There was also a small tranquil garden.

There is another market hall called Mercado de Colón worth visiting in the newer part of the city which is an open sided structure with strong Gaudi influences. In fact there is no market there any more but it is used for exhibitions. Today they had some displays from the school of cuisine including phenomenal chocolate sculptures and outlandish buffets. There are also some cafes in the market hall and we had some nice salads there for lunch.

We cooked at home that evening and afterwards went out for drinks. I do look forward to this on holiday because at home we very rarely go out drinking together. Something about the bars in France and Spain makes them so much more enjoyable to sit and just pass the time quaffing and chatting. Tonight I was on a mission to find the famous Agua De Valencia, a cocktail made from Cava, orange juice and vodka. Well I didn’t so much find it as walk headlong into it, in the manner you do with a brick wall when not looking where you are going. We found an atmospheric little bar called Taverna Cavallers where the tabletops are made from slabs of marble. Julie sensibly ordered a glass of red wine, whilst I ordered a half litre of Agua de Valencia (the minimum you can get) which came in a little terracotta jug with a wooden spatula for stirring the ice. Well it is delicious but lethal! After a hazy hour or so my head was spinning almost as fast as the rate of idiotic conversation I was supplying. Somehow I had the sense to leave the last glassful in the jug and we stumbled back to the apartment. I think that saved me from an unpleasant hangover the next day!

Onward to Valencia

Valencia Norte station

We gave the apartment a tidy up and got to Sants station in good time for our train. We were travelling preferente (first class) on this journey which was very spacious and comfortable. 3.5 hours later we arrived at Valencia Norte station which is an incredible yellow wedding cake of a building, with some gorgeous art nouveau tiling and mosaics.

We had a couple of hours before we could get into our apartment so we went in search of the attractive square that we hoped would exist. Sure enough we gravitated towards Placa Del Virgen which was pedestrianised and surrounded by cafes and a cathedral. We sat outside a cafe and had a beer, and could feel that it was a little warmer again than Barcelona at around 18 degrees. This square has a recumbent male figure in amongst a fountain who is supposed to gracefully symbolise the local river, although he’s hard to take seriously with pigeons on his head.

After the short break we went to get the keys to our apartment which was on a quiet square in a really good central location. It was fairly well equipped and nice and clean. The only problem was that the dishwasher did not work, in fact it blew the electrics when we tried to use it and I had to reset the circuit breaker. We soon learned not to bother trying that again.

In the evening we went to a great bar called Infanta that had been recommended by my friend Shauna and we sat outside as I sipped a rum and coke (made with Havana Club 7 of course). We then walked around looking for somewhere to eat and realised we had not ended up in the best part of town. Barrio del Carmen is quite trendy and one of those ‘under regeneration’ areas, but large parts of it were derelict, dark, deserted and not really welcoming. We wasted a fair bit of time wandering around the maze of streets before heading back towards the main old town and just went into the first tapas bar we came to. This was a mistake – the food was expensive and poor quality, the lighting was harshly glaring, the music too loud and the white wine was at room temperature. I wish I had remembered the name of it to save you the disappointment of ever visiting there, it was the worst food I have ever eaten in Spain.

Next time we resolved to stick to more fruitful areas of the city and do a bit of research during the day before eating out!

Tarragona, Txanxangorri, Tigres

Today we took a day trip from Barcelona to Tarragona. This involved a 1 hour train journey from Barcelona Sants station on the excellent Spanish rail network which has been transformed beyond recognition over the last 10 years. The trains are clean, comfortable and fast. Ticket prices can be quite cheap if you book in advance, but a bit above European average if you buy on the day, especially if you go on the state of the art AVE high speed trains. We went on an Alaris train which is a good compromise if you’re not in a huge hurry to get somewhere. 

When we got to Tarragona, it was quite breezy but dry and sunny. The market was in fuill swing along the main Rambla, and was a clothes and household one rather than a food one. It was great fun wandering along here looking at the counterfeit character products (Spongebob Squarepants is unaccountably popular in Spain where he is known simply as Bob Esponja). We saw one Bob Esponja tea towel where he was oval shaped! There were a lot of underwear stalls, and I had never seen middle aged ladies haggling so vociferously over bra prices before.

Having exhausted the market’s entertainment value, we made for the main square called Plaça de la Font and sat outside in the sun with some coffee, along with a sort of pastry turnover containing a sweet aniseed paste. I don’t really know what that was but I enjoyed it. The sun was quite warm and we seemed to be sheltered from the wind by the large buildings of the square so jackets were removed and sunglasses donned. Lovely!

After some lounging about, we went strolling and found the cathedral. The sandy gothic stones looked magnificent sunlit against the blue sky. There was a small charge to go in which we decided to pay and it was well worth it. The cathedral has a shady cloister around a beautiful garden with fountains and orange trees. There are also some small chapels, and a treasury which was full of over the top Catholic fire and brimstone artifacts including a dramatic statue of Archangel Michael defeating a particularly grotesque devil with eyes bulging and tongue lolling out.

All the blood and gore didn’t affect our appetites, and lunchtime was near. We went back to the Plaça de la Font and selected a Basque restaurant called Txanxangorri. This is the Basque word for a Robin. The food was really nice, I had a salad which was a bit like a Nicoise with tuna, eggs and potatoes. We had some beers and a plate of cheese and lingered for quite a while enjoying the relaxed ambience.

After lunch we strolled around the sleepy streets a bit more and poked around some shops until the time approached for our train back to Barcelona. From Sants station, we got the metro to Catalunya to do some gourmet shopping in the huge Corte Ingles store there. Most big cities have one of these in Spain, they are a bit like a Spanish John Lewis. On the way out of the metro, there was a busking band playing salsa in the ticket hall which had attracted a small crowd, and there was an elderly couple having a romantic dance to the band. I don’t think you would ever see that in London! At Corte Ingles we bought some biscuits, chocolate and sherry, then walked back to the apartment for a rest before dinner time.

We had decided the previous night to return to the wine bar Vinateria del Call and sample their food. This turned out to be a very good decision as this was the best meal of our stay in Barcelona. We had a cosy candlelit table, some good wine and some divine tapas, my highlight of which was tigres (spicy stuffed mussels). For dessert I had some fig ice cream along with a recommended sweet wine called Olivares – a match made in heaven. This is definitely somewhere we will go back to when in Barcelona again.

We retired to bed, excited about the next day when we would be getting the train to Valencia for the second half of our holiday.

Barcelona Day 2 – Ambling and Rambling

We awoke to a sunny Barcelona morning with the forecast looking good. We made some breakfast of croissants, toast and coffee in the well equipped kitchen and then went out for a walk around the Barri Gòtic area. This is the old medieval part of Barcelona which is very atmospheric and full of churches, cafes and shops. A lot of it is traffic free which makes for very relaxing sightseeing. Today the sun was shining and the temperature was around 15 degrees which was very welcome indeed after the grey London winter. 

While walking around we came across a Desigual shop. This is a Spanish fashion chain which are making inroads in the rest of Europe. On several occasions when I had noticed Ana, my Spanish work colleague, wearing a particularly nice dress or jacket and asked her where she got it, she had mentioned this shop. I thought it might be the kind of thing that Julie would like too so my plan was to buy her something from there for her birthday while we were away. Their prices are higher than average, but the designs are really fabulous so it seemed perfect for a gift. So we went inside and Julie found a dress she really liked and I bought that for her.

We then walked over to the Boqueria which is the main food market of Barcelona and is something you really have to experience. The colours, smells, crowds and noise are overwhelming and there are endless stalls selling fruit, vegetables, cheese, ham, seafood, everything you could wish to eat. The plan was to use our apartment kitchen to do some cooking so we loaded up with ripe tomatoes, courgettes, garlic, onions and also some massive strawberries among other things. Quite laden down by this stage, we took all our shopping back to the apartment and dropped it off before going out for a wander around the St Pere area.

Here there is another market called Santa Catarina, but in a more modern building. It was more in the niche of gourmet foods and was a bit more manageable than the Boqueria which can be quite impractical with the crowds.

Lunchtime approached so we went to Taller de Tapas, another place we had been before. This is a good place for sitting outside on a nice day as they are on a traffic free square. It was bliss sitting outside in the sun where I ordered some pescadito frito which is all kinds of small seafood crisply fried in batter such as baby squid, calamari, prawns and anchovies. With a cold beer alongside this was pretty much as idyllic as I could have hoped for! Julie tucked in to some grilled asparagus and tomato bread.

After some more aimless wandering (I mean that in a good way), the weather started to cool off considerably so we popped into a bar called Schilling for coffee. This was a really nice bar, one of those places which is old fashioned and modern at the same time. The coffee was among the best and the cheapest I have had in Spain (only 1.20 Euros for a cortado!). After that we went to the apartment where we were going to have a home cooked meal with all the stuff we bought from the market.

Julie made a Pisto Manchego (kind of Spanish ratatouille) which was really tasty. A bit of cooking is something we really like to do now when on holiday in Europe, as the markets always look so good. So we usually get apartments instead of hotels now.

After dinner we went out in the evening for some drinks. I picked a bar called Vinateria del Call using the Rough Guide to Barcelona which turned out to be an excellent place. It was really a wine bar and they had lots of great wines by the glass and so we had a few sitting at the bar. The wine was so cheap, just 1.75 Euros a glass and it was good quality stuff too. We had a look at their food menu and decided we would come back the next evening for a meal. Feeling more than a little of the wine glow, we strolled back to the apartment pleased at having completed a very satisfying day of food, drink, shopping and a bit of sunshine too.

Barcelona Day 1 – Things of varying sizes (Coffees, Cats, Peppers etc)

Hey dogs - come on if you think you're hard enough

The overnight train arrived in Barcelona at around 8:30am, and unfortunately it was raining there as well. We went to the key collection address for our apartment but as we expected it was too early for us to check in. The owner let us leave our luggage and asked us to come back around 2pm. The rain had stopped by this time so we decided to go and have a coffee. We made for Placa Del Pi where we knew there were some nice outdoor cafes with no traffic. Coffee was ordered and was the perfect Spanish type, quite strong and creamy but not foamy. I had a cafe con leche, while Julie had the smaller cortado (a bit like an Italian macchiato but with more milk). Also we got some Pan Con Tomate which is toasted bread with crushed tomato, olive oil and garlic spread on top. This is a specifically Catalan snack and is the default kind of bread you will get in Barcelona. Actually it should be referred to by its Catalan name of Pa Amb Tomaquet. It’s worth learning a few Catalan words and pronounciation while in Barcelona as most menus and signs are in Catalan. Streets are called Carrer rather than Calle for instance. 

After a very pleasant half hour sitting outside the cafe, we went for a walk around the Raval area which we had not visited before. This is one of those areas that all cities seem to have, that has had a bit of a rough reputation in the past but is now being regenerated. I particularly like these areas as they are quite dynamic and usually have some interesting shops and quirky bars. The area has a lot of second hand clothing shops and music shops but this being Sunday, almost everything was closed. They do have an attractive pedestrian rambla which for some reason has a statue of an enormous black cat in it.

After a tapas lunch in a slightly trendy Eixample bar which I can’t remember the name of, we went to collect our keys to the apartment. It was in a great location near Urquinaona metro station. Julie had a shower while I went for an explore and found a local shop where I picked up some milk, bread and other supplies. After a little siesta, we headed out in the evening for some dinner. We made for a place we had been on a previous visit called Cerveseria Catalana which is a really nice tapas restaurant where you always have to wait a while for a table in the buzzing bar area where people indulge in drinks and appetiser tapas dishes at the bar. This is something you have to get to grips with if you want to enjoy a visit to Spain, you have to wait for things, and things often take longer than you expect. Spanish time is different to European time. A Spanish “15 minute” wait is usually half an hour. The thing to do is go with it, have a drink, relax and don’t fight it. This is just how things are in Spain. Some things are worth waiting for anyway, such as tapas at Cerveseria Catalana. We got to our table and ordered a feast of such things as little piquillo red peppers stuffed with potato and bacalao (salt cod) topped with melted cheese which is one my favourite Spanish dishes. Also we had some grilled asparagus, patatas bravas, and some huge whole prawns fried in garlic oil. And of course, Catalan tomato bread.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment quite tired after the travelling of the previous night and got an early night so we could get in a full day of sightseeing the next day.

London to Paris ; The Moebius Trip ; The Macarena Bus

This was the first leg of our journey by train to Valencia, and we arrived in a very rainy Paris so we were considering a museum or gallery to visit.

While walking up the platform at Gare Du Nord, I spotted a poster for an exhibition at the Fondation Cartier by the comic artist Jean Giraud, also known as Moebius. I felt a strange excitement, as in the late 70s as a teenager I used to read a French comic called “Metal Hurlant” which featured his artwork, and I immediately recognised the artist’s distinctive style. At the time these French comics were like nothing I had ever seen before, printed on high quality paper, with complex stories and fantastic art. This predated the British comic and graphic novel rennaisance by about 10 years. Although it was translated into English I don’t think I ever really understood them as they were also quite surreal and were a bit mature for my age, but they were incredible to look at and I felt quite cool carrying them around school. I know now that the French were and still are very serious about bandes dessinées which are viewed as a serious art form.

Julie was happy to go and see that too so we decided to have lunch at one of our favourite little bistros in Montparnasse which is quite near the Fondation Cartier and we could walk there afterwards. We have been to La Petite Rotonde too many times to count now, it’s on a quiet square so in good weather sitting outside is just lovely. However the rain today forced us inside to a cosy table by the window. The place never seems to have any other tourists there and they always patiently let us practice our French speaking. They serve some good staples such as Onion Soup, Quiches, Chèvre Salad and Pave Saumon. Today I decided on a smoked salmon quiche and salad, whilst Julie opted for the chèvre salad. A small glass of wine each and a basket of bread completed the picture and we felt like we were properly on holiday despite the rain!

After lunch we walked up Boulevard Raspail to the Fondation Cartier for the Moebius exhibition. I really enjoyed it, some works had been redrawn at a huge size directly on to the walls. Some were exhibited as giant paintings, others as postcard sized with lightboxes. I recognized several of the strips from my early teens such as “Arzach” and “The Airtight Garage”. I was really glad to see that Moebius had this legendary status because I could see even back then he was something special and unique.

After spending quite a while at the exhibition, we had a coffee break in a nearby cafe and started planning our early dinner before we would be getting on the overnight train to Barcelona. A great option for that in Paris is to go to a traditional crêperie. There are loads of these in Rue Montparnasse. A proper savoury crêpe (gallette) is made from buckwheat (sarrasin) and so makes a good substantial meal when stuffed full of cheese, veggies or whatever else you like and then cooked with butter until brown, crispy and tasty. We tried a place we hadn’t been to before called Josselin and it was really nice. We had mixed vegetable gallettes with cheese and egg, and some Breton cider which is the traditional accompaniment.

Then it was time to head to Austerlitz station for our train. We had plenty of time so we decided to take a bus there from Boulevard Montparnasse. This turned out to be an eventful journey as halfway through the journey a group of boisterous young women clearly up for a big night out got on the bus with an amplified CD player and proceeded to pass a petition around the bus asking whether we wanted them to sing or not. I should add that one of them was carrying a megaphone. The democratic process appeared to be largely in favour, so the megaphone carrier started her performance accompanied by the CD player. Unfortunately the megaphone quickly stopped working. Unfazed, she then conducted a show of hands to decide whether as a backup plan, we would like her to dance to “Macarena” instead. Again the people spoke, and the dance was ably performed to some fairly loud music and applause. Another lady on the bus was then persuaded to get up and join in the dance routine. This revelry continued for most of the rest of our bus journey to Austerlitz.

On the overnight train, we had a drink at the bar, particularly to raise a toast to my friend Shauna who was having her engagement party in London that night. And my Havana Club rum and coke cost a lot less than it would have done in London. Then we settled down for the night in our cabin, the bunk beds were nice and comfortable and I got a pretty good sleep before we woke up in Spain.

New Blog

Hello!

I am starting a new blog after a couple years of silence in that arena.

The problem is I am too busy doing stuff to find time to write about the stuff being done. Especially as I like to take time structuring and checking what I am writing. Well I am going to sacrifice quality and possibly volume in favour of frequency, as something usually happens every day worth mentioning, even if it is just happening in my head.

I have several nice European trips lined up plus a whole load of gigs and shows in the schedule which ought to be worth writing about. Also I have some new hobbies and interests; well one anyway which is my dance classes. This is a revolution for me as I have never done proper regular exercise before.

This programme of events starts tomorrow with a train trip to Valencia via Paris and Barcelona. If I can get an internet connection while travelling I’ll do my best to keep things up to date.

Bye for now!