After our failed attempt to sleep on the beach, we moved on to València. It’s a pretty large city, so the only real choice of camp sites are a few miles out. We found one with an easy bus route into the centre, only €1.50 and 20 minutes each way.
First thing on the bucket list was to try the local speciality. For València, that’s a drink called Horchata. We assumed it was dairy based, but apparently the Valencian’s are on-trend because it’s made with nut milk. We found a nice covered market with cafes and bars for a Horchata and a Farton.
The main festival in the city is The Fallas, the climax of which is unfortunately next week. They parade giant caricatures, called Ninots. At the end of the festival, they are burnt. However, the winning Ninot is pardoned and spared. We went to the Fallas Museum to see how the festival has changed over the years since it started nearly a century ago.
We also had a good walk through the town. It looks similar to Barcelona, but the streets are a bit wider and it’s much more chilled out. We thought we’d missed most of The Fallas, but some of the Ninots were being prepared.
When we got to the town hall, there were a lot of people gathering. It turns out that they do this daily on the run up to the festival:
After recovering from the shell shock, Joolz and I decided via mime and pointing (because we were stone cold deaf for about an hour) to walk back towards the bus stop for the campsite. This took us past the Arts and Sciences park, which is a collection of museums and public spaces. And yet again, the architecture is something special.
When we got back to The Van, we cooked ourselves very nice campervan paella and made plans.