Valencia, revisited

The Spanish hangover has me speaking slowly and loudly to people here in London, having not yet realized that English is spoken here, mostly as a first language.

I'm also redetermined to learn Spanish again after yet another trip spent butchering the few words/phrases I do know. I want to learn the Central/South American variety though: Valenthians and Barthelonans (yeah I realize they speak Catalan) and folks from Theville are just too lithpy thounding.

Here's what I enjoyed:

1. Agua de Valencia (Water of Valencia). For someone who loves fruit juice as much as I do, visiting the world's greatest orange juice factory was a real treat. And if your city's official drink is fresh-squeezed orange juice mixed with champagne, gin and vodka, you'll have a hard time getting me to leave.

2. The America's Cup. Massive sailing race that's based in Valencia this summer. This 3-month event has basically revitalized the port with new restaurants and hotels. Pretty cool race as well -- history, format, participants, the fact that it basically takes place whenever anyone challenges for it instead of on a set schedule... I won't claim to understand it all but it's basically a round-robin of regatta events with teams at the bottom of the table falling out as the event gets into later stages. And then the team that wins gets the cup, which was first won by a boat named America.

3. Staying in a hostel. I know, I know. Some of my readers would never stay at one, and I've certainly had some bad experiences, but sometimes they're just the best thing ever. Like this time I paid €20/night and the hostel was fantastic -- right in the heart of the city. I also have new friends (for life) in Holland, Montreal and Wales. If you stay in a hotel you pay a lot and you never meet people. Or you meet people who like staying in hotels and doing the tourist stuff. Hostels are the best way to find out about interesting non-touristy things to do (like watching horses dance) and places to go (best Paella in town). Plus at 3am there's no better place to get scolded by someone for climbing over a wall and buying crisps and candy from the snack machine in the kitchen, which closes at 22:00.

Seriously the Paella was fantastic. Oh and the sangria. And tapas are so cheap -- it honestly makes me sick to my stomach to realize that I shared sangria and 8 plates of tapas with 5 people and spent a total of £8 ($12). Contrast that to London where I once spent $12 on 4 bottles of water.