Peace Paella, Ciao Pasta

Yesterday marked the end of the Spain leg and now I'm coming to you live from Trastevere in Rome. This neighbourhood is vibrant to say the least. I got a cab and was dropped off a couple blocks away from my spot because cars cannot get to my street. This was immediately after getting out of the taxi:

The streets and restaurants were all jam-packed at 1040 pm. Very lively it will not be boring here.

The whole week in Spain was one of a kind. Can't believe I already have to switch languages though Italian will definitely be an interesting social experiment for me. Rounded out Valencia with some touring of a couple landmarks, nature areas, lunch in a locals neighbourhood, and a final paella for dinner. Here's the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (Arts and Sciences City):

Didn't know what to make of it, but it looked cool enough from a quick walk around. The gigantic pools were kind of hilarious. I then walked to the Ruzafa neighbourhood which had it's own market of hanging meats, as is tradition, and I walked through there before grabbing a rare American-type meal at a place called Chick Shack.

I ate outside by myself and an old lady in a wheelchair wheeled on up to my table and asked me if I was American which I confirmed. She proceeded to speak at me in Spanish. She pointed up at a window to where she said she lived.

She would hold her finger up and say “one minute, I need to write” (which was the extent of her English), then wheel back to her table, grab her little notepad, and write something down. She also showed me old photos of her at the beach in Valencia. I barely understood a word she said, but I was able to use the translator to tell her she was very nice and I did understand her name was Pilar. All else I comprehended was the handwritten Valencia tourism recommendations and the name of the beach from her picture:

It was odd though because while the table next to me knew her and were telling her not to bother me, the younger guy there was also not giving me pleasant looks as I tried to be courteous and entertain her. I said she wasn’t bothering me but everything was getting lost in translation. I kept it moving from there.

Next I strolled on through the famous Jardines de Turia on a beautiful sunny day:

Then took some public transportation to the longest beach in history. Don't think I've ever laid eyes on a beach where ya can't see the water from the promenade, but that was almost the case. It’s because the body of whatever is the Mediterranean Sea there so there are no tides, currents, or waves and the beach stays static. It was another nude beach of course, they love their stripping down in Spain.

I packed my stuff back up again for the next leg of travel and we hit the El Carmen area one time for a final group dinner with the tour. Felt bad as everyone had long travel days and early flights, I was just on to Rome with a quick hop of 2hrs. We ate at a place called El Format and got 3 types of paella from the paella man below:

They use the huge prawns in their paella and eat them fully including the shells which is different. I tried one or two that way and it's not great but worth experiencing. The sharing from the big paella pan is a unique way to eat dinner and I love it as it creates conversations so I'd highly recommend doing it with a group if you haven't.

Said see ya to my great tour guide Ines who has lived in Spain all her life and is originally from the Basque Country (check it out if you haven't it has some vistas).

That's it that's all for Spain, 9.8/10 would go again and I'm on to Rome alone (good pun).

It's a much faster moving coffee scene here from what I've gathered already. Met a couple dudes from Connecticut standing at the espresso bar this morning eating pastries, sipping cappuccinos. I shouldn't say sipping though because everyone was more like chugging in there as the lines started behind us. I have a good long day ahead taking a bike tour to get the lay of the land and then I'll be searching out some pizza or pasta.

Ciao Ciao. I'll check back in when I feel like it.