March 7th 2018
Mostly clear, temp 62F.
Today I woke about 0630 and I took a small nap to 0730. I then did took a long hot shower. I decided today was the day in which I was to find a breakfast shop and then after this, find a decent market to shop. I went downstairs to the hotel lobby and asked the front desk about a good market. It is down the street, about a 5 to 10 minute walk. I told myself that I may need to take two trips, to concentrate on the vital items first and maybe some heavy items, but to bring back enough food for two to three days.
I ate breakfast at about 0900 when the shop across from the hotel opened. I opted for a small meal, more of two pieces of cake filled with fruit and a coffee.
The price came up to less than 5 euro. After I was finished I see that they brought out fresh eggs and other items behind the counter which is meant to be like a small buffet that is served by the staff. The price was less than 5 euro as well. I decided I could use that as a fallback if I did not find items I needed at a market. Once I was done, I thanked the staff at the shop and went back to the room. I emptied my backpack, just in case and started up google maps. Google says it would take about 5 minutes to get there and the market was open 0900 to 2100.
This market was pretty easy to find. In Google its is listed as Vidal. On the street and on the receipt, the name is Kuups. I walked around the block to make sure I was not at the wrong market. I decided to go in and look around.
They lot of fresh pre-packaged items like in the photo. As well as a pretty wide selection of fresh meats. I opted for smaller amounts of food this trip. I want to see if I can lose some weight. The walking and the diet, plus getting to see this lovely country at my leisure is the perfect combo.
Alas, you can never get away from the marketing of the United States. When something catches on, it spreads like wildfire across the world. If my son was here, he would simply laugh, grab a handful of what is on the rack below and know the trip was worth it. Should I be able to take him on a trip to Spain, and we reach Valencia, I will surely take him past this rack below:
All what you see cost near 20 Euro and I was happy with that. I thought it would be more. I did look at other items but I knew my initial load would be a bit heavy. I think with three bags, the total weight was close to the backpack I carried through the airports – probably 25 or more pounds.
I got back to the room and took everything out. I started to put the items in the fridge, and I noticed that in about a full day, this thing was not working right. I thought I heard the cleaning ladies and I asked them to look at the fridge. They said they would call some one. In about 5 minutes, I had a lady come up. She looked like management and did not speak much English. She was frustrated but I took out the google translate app and started the conversation. She basically said, maintenance would be right up to look at the item. In about five more minutes, they arrived and looked at the fridge. Yes, it needs replacing.
As I type this, the maintenance man has come in, and he has already removed the old unit. He is in the process of bringing in the new unit. Outstanding service, if it is not already obvious. I am very pleased, as the meats I have will not last more than 3 hours if not in a cold fridge.
Project done in less than an hour. Perfect.
Besides going to the market once more, I will have to decide if I want to go sight seeing anywhere. I am finding google maps, with everything turned on is a blessing in disguise. It allows me to search for places on the laptop and pass these to the phone and I can navigate to the places without much worry. I also noted that this google maps will eat a lot of battery. This is why i will bring the battery pack. When it gets low, I will find a place to sit and offer it a chance to charge. This battery pack, a RAVpower, can charge a phoine up to six times. It was down to 2 out of four lights, and it was fully charged overnight, the maximum time it was plugged in was 6 hours.
You see, I am not one for the cattle-car style tours. I like to research things and go, see them on my own. I am sure some of the tours are truly worth the experience if you don’t have any specific plans. But, to me, I gotta do some things on my own.
Good Luck, I wish to tackle this adventure on my own. = )
When the phone is better, I will then move on. I will create a list of places that I can go to all in one circle which will not take more than 1 km each way. If I see two or three places a day, in less than a week I will be able to see everything I have written down.
Gogle translate conversation mode is working great ! I managed to decipher what the manager said about the fridge, the maintenace guy about the issue with the fridge and asking questions in the market for items that I needed.
I am fortunate the ladies behing the counter of the hotel speak decent english. All of them are very polite and have answered all my questions. I now know how to unlock the stove and use it without question. All I need is a few more items from the market.
Talking about the market, I decided to head back to the market once more. I understand this city is quite big, and it is packed with buildings and small shop all over Valencia. These shops are typically small, I would have to guess the size of most may be twenty feet wide annd no more than forty feet deep. The look like a storgae locker when closed up, and when open, bigger than a 20×20 unit as I know them in the USA.
I seen a garage that looks like a medium sized warehouse. Its pretty active in that area, so I imagine that this is more of what the USA offers as parking garage. It is across a busy street, and I decided to hold off my curiosity and keep moving.
A bus stops near the corner as I approach it and people come out quickly. Some more traffic comes from the crosswalk as it is green and safe to cross. I stopped, letting the chaotic motion subside. I look up, and I see near the road edge trees planted. I look up and notice they are Valencia orange trees. I take a quick photo and move towards the market.
I ended up buying a half loaf of freshly made bread, 5 liters of water, instant coffee, creamers and pepper. I asked where the salt was, and the man pointed to a 1 kg package. I asked if there was a smaller package and the answer was no. I decided to skip the salt.
Back in the room, I see that is close to 1300. I see that the fridge is cooling down nicely. I put the items away went to Google Maps to look over a possible path to navigate to see two or three sights in a day. I get messaged by my friend, and we hold a conversation in Whats Up for a few hours. I tell her what I have bought. Her only concern was that I clean the mushrooms completely before cooking. I snapped a photo of the cleaning tools neatly placed out on the balcony of my room, and she simply laughed.
The conversation faded, and so did my desire to keep my eyes open. The jet lag is fading fast but, I still feel the effects of it. I decided to take a nap. It lasted about three hours. I awoke near 1900. I decided to cook some pasta tonight, and have some vegetables that I bought from the market. Tonight I will have Spinach and Ricotta cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce. I will add Mushrooms and shredded cheese to the mix at the end. I will have the end piece of the bread to soak up the tomato sauce. I show my friend what I have created and she offers me a Bon Appetit.
Dinner was good, just the right portion. I was full, but not stuffed. I decided on pasta because I want alot of energy for tomorrow. I will be doing some sight seeing in Valencia Spain, and I may be walking close to 2 miles or more when the day is done.
I clean up my mess after a meal. I do what my late grandfather used to do when the grandmother was gone. Simply use one item of each, wash it at the end of the meal and house keeping remains simple. Keep the plate, bowl and utensils on the counter which will thwart you from using more.
I researched a few more sights to visit here in Valencia, Spain. Tomorrow I will end up heading out for 0900 when most of the sight seeing places in Valencia open up as well as the shops.
This is the end of the long post of day two in Valencia, Spain. Day three will show some tourist sights within the city center of Valencia.