[PICTURED: Colorful geraniums span the length of a bridge in Valencia, Spain.]
The six of us had been together for ten days, since Thursday July 5th, and now had come the time for us to go our separate ways. Although The Greatest Trip would continue, it would continue on three separate tracks.
Gianna and Sam took a taxi to Barcelona Airport, where they gambled that discount airline Vueling could somehow deliver them to Palerma, Sicily, and that they might from there somehow cross the island to Syracuse.
They lost that bet; Vueling handed them a six-hour delay, then dumped them in Palermo late at night. That caused them to miss their train, so they rented a car, and from there, they drove ALL the way across Sicily to Syacuse (northwest to southeast), arriving at about 2 am, for the first of five days in Sicily before driving back to Palermo [Day 1 Palermo — accidental detour to Cefalù— Syracuse. Day 2 Syracuse. Day 3 Naxos. Day 4 Mineo, Catania. Day 5 Syracuse—Agrigento—Palermo. Where once Sicily had paved roads, now it has only a moonscape of potholes inside of potholes. Kudos to Sam for their safe return and not inadvertently destroying the vehicle. They would continue on to Herculaneum (Ercolano) in Napoli for a two week stay.
Toni and Aaron made their way to Sagrada Familia to stagger Aaron, and to do it at a quieter, less hot-and-touristy time than we had seen. But although the time they chose was less hot, it was more wet – in the middle of a downpour, in fact, which closed the towers and prevented them from viewing the top of the Basilica and walking down 18 stories of dizzying, treacherous steps.
Toni and Aaron would then make their way to the Barcelona Airport, and at the hands of RyanAir endure the outrage of being prevented from checking in online, and then being charged 100 euros for failing to check-in online, plus being handed a flight delay.
They eventually got to Malta, then moved on to Tunisia, which required more French than they had between them, and exposed them to new levels of heat 100+ degrees with humidity -- but they got by, and then spent a day in Belgium, before returning to California.
Chiara and I headed to the train station, and rode a 3.5 hour train to Valencia, where we strolled the streets. We learned that Valencia is hotter than hell (even if it's not has hot as Tunisia), and still has bull fights in its big arena next to the train station. Valencia is a pretty big city, but unlike Madrid or Barcelona, Valencia is mostly configured for the people who live there, not for tourists or government business. So although tourists are common and welcome -- and perhaps especially American study-abroad students are easy to spot -- tourism are not the city's main business.
In Valencia we saw, as in Barcelona, consistently impressive architecture, and amazing public spaces – especially the great green belt that snakes through the city. We got close enough to see, but did not visit, Valencia’s world famous “City of Arts and Science,” a mecca of museums and modern architecture. We can speak for Valencia’s gelato, which is as good as any.
The following morning, we headed to Valencia’s Mercado Central, and discovered the largest and most impressive farmers market we will ever see. There were a few kiosks with souvenirs or kitchen tools, but the vast majority were devoted to fruits, meats, fish, vegetables, condiments, and spices, in that order. If you wanted to buy skinned rabbits, live eels, or any kind of crustacean or mollusk, there were many opportunities.
Next we returned to Barcelona, and took a train to the airport, which is not the best way to get to the airport in Barcelona, even if you are staying at a hotel right next to the train station that goes to the airport. The train station is not well signed, the trains are not well signed, the people are not helpful, and it’s easy to get on the wrong train to the wrong place, which we did. And even the RIGHT train doesn’t go to the right terminal. But there was enough time to sort it out, and soon we were sitting on a Delta flight heading to JFK, and then home to SFO.
[PICTURED: Valencia's train station; we arrived direct from Barcelona Sants. There are oranges up on the top of the facade.]
[PICTURED: Valencia's bull fighting ring is active, and located right next door to the train station.]
[PICTURED: Gorgeous public architecture in Valencia. This is the Roads and Telegraphs Building.]
[PICTURED: Chiara tries a different angle on the Roads and Telegraphs Building.]
[PICTURED: Fountain in Valencia's big public square -- this is just off Chiara's left shoulder in the photo above.]
[PICTURED: An infinity of colorful geraniums covers both sides of this bridge. Under the bridge is the green belt that snakes its way to the City of Arts and Sciences, which we did not visit.]
[PICTURED: Valencie's Central Market is in a huge, gorgeous building the size and shape of a train station]
[PICTURED: The glass dome above the Mercado Central.]
[PICTURED: One reason you visit a market like this is to see gross stuff, like skinned rabbits or live eels, and we certainly were not disappointed. Note that although tourists could purchase a few things in the market, most of what they were selling were fish, meats, and vegetables, which were obviously for the locals.]
[PICTURED: Live eels. Gross.]
[PICTURED: Chiara considers purchasing a fish.]
[PICTURED: Chiara in fact purchases some fruit.]
[PICTURED: I have no idea what kind of fish this is.]
[PICTURED: More kinds of crustaceans than I knew existed.]
[PICTURED: there's no way to do justice to the fish and meat. I excluded rooster heads, and every kind of dead fowl. In the center above you can see fish so big they are hanging off the side of the counter.]
[PICTURED: Foie Gras is gross in multiple dimensions, despite the cute goose figurines.]
[PICTURED: There was wine.]
[PICTURED: There was dried fruit, and nuts, and nut brittles.]
[PICTURED: There was a sea of salts -- so many salts in fact that the Crown Grill's offering us only three kinds of salt with our steak now seems like an insult.]
[PICTURED: When we finally got home, Ginny had her first good night's sleep in weeks.]