Forced Leisure in Valencia

I'm back to the big city life coming from island time, and Valencia may immediately top old Town Ibiza architecturally. Have to share one pic from the travel day though because arriving in the port town of Denia (which I had never heard of) was unreal:

We left that paradise by the bay and rode up the coast to Valencia. I was starving after not wasting any meals on ferry food that looked subpar. Of course there's a terrific restaurant a stones throw away everywhere we've stayed so I had an afternoon steak (entrecot) that was cooked and salted to perfection:

They cook everything a lot more on the rare side here without even asking which I appreciate, but it's wayyy different than America. The waitress there was shocked when I didn't speak Spanish and that's at least the fifth time I've gotten that same impression off the bat. Interesting that I can pass as Spanish when there's approximately 0% in our blood. My Spanish tour guide said the same thing which confirmed it. I'll take it as I like to blend in, but makes it much harder once they realise I can speak less Espanyol than a toddler here.

We toured the olde town later and I'm a sucker for the fortresses and ancient architecture so you have to be too. Here comes a bunch, the entrance of Los Torres De Serranos:

Check out this door:

Door tour continues:

And lastly they gave us a quick fact that this is (supposedly) the most narrow apartment in the world, can ya spy it?:

We walked right from there out for some drinks and dinner. The rooftop nearby that we went to called Atenea was fantastic. It felt a tad different than the one in Conshohocken. It was packed out with girls looking to get the perfect sunset pic but the food and drinks were surprisingly cheap/quality. We tried the traditional drink of the city called the Aigua de Valencia which was basically a mimosa with a bit of extra liquor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigua_de_València). Not bad, not the type of Agua I've been on the hunt for, but it'll do! There was a DJ as well and we were sat uncomfortably close to a woman doing an acrobatic performance. Thought she might crash onto our table at one point.

Hell of a scene at that place and it had the "forced leisure", as I call it, that is typical of Europe. What is forced leisure? It's the phenomenon of being involuntarily immersed in Europe’s leisurely dining culture, where slow service forces you to relax whether you want to or not. Or another way we said it at the rooftop was: when your drink’s been empty for 40 minutes and the waiter’s on a cigarette break looking at the sunset and somehow, you’re the rude one for noticing them/flagging them down. I love it because I'm completely ready for it now but if you have a tight schedule it can be tough.

From there we hit a classic Irish pub called Saint Martins for the Valencia vs Barcelona futbol game to check out the fan scene. The chicos from the home side got an absolute thumping put on them 6-0 vs Barcelona which the home crowd did not enjoy. It was a diverse crowd all of British, Irish, Spanish, and Asian Valencia fans who all were just laughing and drinking by the end of the trouncing. Aaand that was night 1 en La Terreta.

Still more to recap from Valencia but I'll catch up on that while I'm waiting for my plane to Rome. Then I'll check back in when I feel like it.