On Spanish Adventures Part IV: Short and Sweet Addition

In which we catch up, mainly pictorially.

I have had so many amazing experiences the last three days that I want and need to write about¹. Between a bike tour of the old river, to visiting a farm and having the most amazing meal, to exploring the backstreets of old Valencia², to the football match last night. It's been a total whirlwind. But I just spent the last two and a half hours in my room grading so I'm getting a little stir crazy. But, I wanted to give a little update, let people know I'm alive, and share a few pictures.

Unfortunately most of my pictures are stuck on my camera, but I'll get them off of there soon. Until then, enjoy!

A shot from Old Valencia.

On our walking tour of Old Valencia there were a lot of neighborhood that had this classic European look. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I was hoping, but fortunately I went back a few days later with some students and was able to take some more.

This is a shot from further up the street.

Like most a lot of European cities you see a blend of classic architecture with modern flair.

We spent a whole day at a small farm just north of the city where a man has turned his home into a resturant for traditional paella. In his barn he has many of the tools they used to use to farm before modern conveniences. He also has peppers native to the region that you can't find anymore. As well as his own GMO-free corn³.

Adding rice to the paella.

This guy was awesome, he was the sous chef and he was great about talking with our students and letting them experience this multi-hour cooking process. He even hand wrote the paella recipe in spanish at the request of one of our students.

Seriously so good

Most of the beer here in spain is pretty cheap and terrible. Not that I ever complain about the price, I've bought a lot of beer for 1 Euro⁴. Before we came out to the farm one the director of the group we are working with mentioned that he and I could try this great beer that they had. It was amazing, it's almost like a saison but with honey and rosemary. My mind was blown. Then he said you could only get it at the brewery and I was a little disheartened.

Yesterday when I was walking around Old Valencia we saw a beer shop. One of my students wanted help picking out something for her dad so we popped in. I scanned through all of the beers from Spain and there on the bottom shelf in the last place I looked I saw this beer! So I bought some and will be bring it home with me!

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1) Before it all disappears from my mind grapes.

2) We found so much awesome street art.

3) This was the most amazing day, I will be writing about it more in the future.

4) So you don't tip in Spain. As a result servers don't try and up sell you on much. Last night a bartender talked me out of a nicer more expensive beer and down to a cheap shitty one. It was late so I didn't care, but talk about something that would never happen in the states.

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