Madrid and Valencia Call Our Names!

 안녕하세요  (annyeonghaseyo).... from the Wandering Berkmans!

Wait, why the Korean when this post is clearly all about Spain?  Because on Valentines Day we left the warm and sunny Spanish skies for the decidedly more chilly temps of Seoul, South Korea.  With just a week under our belts we've had more adventures than our usual rate -- check out the SOL at the end of this post for one of them.  

Back to Spain-- dentist visits in Madrid were more complicated this time for me but all went well and I'm happy to say the process is moving along at a great pace. Don continues, steady Eddie.  We stayed in a new section of the city, Nuevos Ministerios-- high rises, busy business and government district.  Other than the noise from the 4 lane road below (6 floors are, apparently, not enough to drown out the rush hour hustle) the airbnb was very comfortable and we'll consider returning there for our 1 week dental visit in May.   

How we missed this breakfast of café con leche (coffee with milk), pan con tomate (toasted bread with a tomato/EEVO/salt puree) and zumo de naranja (freshly squeezed Valencia orange juice-- only the best in the world).  

Not to be outdone, the lunch below featured the loveliness of  gazpacho, tinto de verano (a mix of red wine, vermouth and club soda but there are many variations on the theme) and a salad of jamón serrano and burrata cheese.  

The person behind us seemed blasé but we were excited to partake in this lunch of grilled vegetables, pimientos de padron (blistered peppers) and chipirones a la plancha (grilled squid).

We did more than eat and go to the dentist in Madrid! We met the terrific Pauline and Borja in Madrid when we were there for 2 months in 2022 and we've made a point to meet up every time we're in town.  Not only do we have a great time just gabbing, Pauline has been a great resource as it applies to the residency process, something Don will be attempting once I get (fingers crossed!) Spanish citizenship.  Still no word but we're not giving up hope!

Dentist accomplished, we boarded a train (the Renfe-- fantastic) and headed back to Valencia, where we had briefly visited with Javi back in 2022 for just a few days (see the post on that trip here).  We knew then that we would be back and this visit did not disappoint.  

Don did a masterful job of finding us an airbnb in the middle of the Ciutat Vella  (old city) that was near many great sites yet amazingly quiet at night.  Brilliant!  This is the view from our baby balcony.  Sure, you could see the neighbors and they you from across this narrow street but it becomes a nothing burger after a while.  As in nothing sheers can't handle.

Even the local kitties have fancy digs!  This whimsical building and door lead to an area where the people in the neighborhood provide food and shelter for the felines.  

When in Spain, seeing a fûtbol game is a must.  Tix to Real Madrid cost more than our former mortgage so we opted to see the local Valencian team, Levante UD.  We garbled along to the main fight song (apparently you can purchase the whole slew of songs on Apple Music!), waved around a towel, gesticulated wildly when the ref made a very bad call and cheered like mad when the other team's goal was overturned.  We are good luck to Levante indeed!  

Our fellow nomadic friend Christine (we know her from our college days soooooo many years ago) introduced us via Whatsapp to her friend Lisa who recently moved to Valencia.  Over delicious tapas we got her perspective on what it's like to be a resident.  And you know what?  It sounds pretty darn nice.  

The views at night aren't too shabby either.

File this under "More architecture we love", this in the section of the city called  La Xerea

Who knew Valencia had its own language?? Not us! All the signage around the city is at least in Valenciano and many are also in Castellano (as the language of Spanish is called in Spain).  One of the major universities, Universitat de València has classes in both languages and younger students study both as they go through the school system.  Poor Don in his study of Spanish (going very well!)  was wondering why he was understanding less on the street until I filled him in on this phenomena.  Check out the comparison below on signage from the train (Valenciano in purple)-- it seems to be a mix of Latin, Portuguese, French and Spanish.

Give a Berkman a game involving hand/eye coordination and I've lost him.  At a local museum, patrons were encouraged to toss dried garbanzo beans into suspended pots and washbasins.  His victory dance after sinking 10 was a sight to behold-- the guards were amused!

  

And what's a museum in Valencia without an exhibit of paella pans, begging to be played like gongs.  Aforementioned museum guard was less willing to let me partake in what would have been a spectacular musical experience.  

As the name suggests, Plaza Redonda is a neighborhood built in the late 1800's as a circular plaza in the middle of the city.   I just wandered into it while walking to follow the sun on a blustery day.   Redone in 2012, it now has the covering shown on the left with kiosks selling crafts and apartments surrounding it all.  In the arial views it looks as if there is a fully intact coliseum in the middle of the city.

The crosswalk sign people are clothed in traditional dress.  Love it.

A day trip to the surprisingly charming Xátiva (pronounced SHA-tee-vah-- the ticket seller at the train station had a laugh at our expense when we asked for tickets to "ex-ah-TEE-vah").  We went for the castle on the hill (2nd pic) but couldn't resist capturing the home of perhaps the biggest cat lady in all of Spain! 

Don takes in the view from one part of Castell de Xátiva looking over the smaller part in the distance.  It was worth the 30 min trek uphill-- the views were terrific.  I think Don could have spent all day there.  

I left my helicopter at home so I couldn't get this shot myself.  We'll have to content ourselves with this winner from the website to show the enormity of this double fortress.  BTW the city of Xátiva is no slouch-- just south of Valencia with a population of about 30,000, it seemed to have many of the amenities one would want if one would want to live affordably in Spain hmmmmmm...

We spent another day checking out La Abufera, where rice is grown in the Valencia area.  A tranquil tour by boat showed us the fields at rest, brown and flooded.  We've since been told to come at the end of summer to see for miles the beautiful green stalks blowing in the wind.  So while the boat views were slightly underwhelming (better this time of year to go at sunset?) we made up for it by tucking into a delicious meal of (what else?) paella in the bordering fishing village of El Palmar. 

This wasn't our first paella on this trip but a tasty one.  It's notable that the paella served in Valencia is decidedly less thick (less rice) than I grew up eating but this makes the rice crunchier on the bottom and adds a new and tasty flavor.  And you eat it with a spoon, the better to scrap up those amazing crunchy bits, my dear.  

Take a stroll through the small village to digest your paella as you take in the traditional housing called the barraca.  Not meant for the tall, as seen here.  

What more is there to eat in Valencia, you may ask?  In addition to eating our combined weight in tortilla española in the apartment, we made a point of visiting twice our fav little taberna,  Casa Vani, where we tucked into their tapas sampler (pic below, start at bottom and go clockwise- albondigas (meatballs) with pimientos de padron and cornichon, brie on toast, tortilla, tucked in the middle jamón serrano, and my fav, a date stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon oy... my kryptonite. ).  With a little vermouth and sangria to wash it down we were destined to be regulars.  The owners were so sweet, giving us a hug and a kiss on each cheek as we left for the last time. 

A beautiful arugula salad of grilled peach and jamón serrano with balsamic glaze, (which has been added to my "Hall of Fame" sauce status along with ssamjang and miso anything. More on these two in a later post). 

Where better to enjoy an espresso, chocolate caliente and the best zumo de naranja you'll ever have the pleasure of drinking?  By the beach, of course.  This one, Playa La Malvarrosa, was crowded on the weekends but during the week it was all ours as we rode our bikes on quiet and open plazas.  

OK, Seoul calls!  The weather is colder than we usually do but we're layering up to epic proportions and actually doing ok.   Floor heating in our Airbnb helps!  More on all this next time-- Javi arrives tomorrow (moved their flight up by a week, the FOMO was so strong) for 5 weeks with us, here and in Taiwan.  Between having lived here for 8 months in 2020 and currently taking a course in Korean, who better than Javi to be our built in guide!  

Until then, enjoy Night 1 with us when a group of teachers asked us to join them in a Lunar New Year toast not once but  3 times during the night.  Our new besties <3.  And the woman sitting to the left is the owner, pausing her dinner to clap along.  She was adorable.  

 

Enjoy the spring if you have it-- nicer days coming soon!  And thanks for following along!

Don and Monica

spain, south korea