12/15/2013 to 12/21 The Land of the Oranges - Valencia Spain

In constant search of warmer weather and needing to be in Barcelona by Christmas, we headed to Valencia, with its groves and groves of orange trees, staying south in a small campgrounds right on the beach, packed with Germans!  It took us some time to get used to European camping, which is more just warehousing campers rather than "living outdoors".  However, the folks were very nice and there were plenty of free oranges at the campground.  Please note that Valencia oranges come from California!!!!!

We spent a lot of time hiking in the mountains


and visiting very interesting caves despite the fact that it was very chilly and even though we were right on the beach, only spent about 1 hour walking on the beach!  We came across some really interesting local sites, like this dinosaur  terraces an ancient ice house and monasteries perched on hillsides.

                                          

Our funniest hike into the mountains was in search of some ancient cave paintings.  We were warned that they were hard to see, but had faith in our eyes.  What we did not expect was that the paintings were way up above us (after hiking way, way up) in an area that was chained off.  Neither of us could really see anything and had to rely on our photos to show us what we were supposed to see! Can you find the painting!   

We also visited several caves, one which was self guided and very deep where we came across these weird cave-dwellers!and one a guided tour which was a bit speedy!



Our favorite town was Denia with its toy museum, lovely harbor, market, great hairdresser and a pre-Christmas all-town luminary display that was lots of fun!  Great harbor, great market!

 Valencia itself was the site of one of our favorite meals that almost turned into a disappointment.  We had heard of a restaurant that served great paella but when we got there we found that we had failed to make reservations as we should have.  However, the hostess was kind enough to send us for a walk with instructions to come back in 1/2 hour because she thought one reservation might not show up.  That was true and we had a wonderful paella.

Valencia itself had a great and beautiful indoor market.